A Moment In Time
by R.G.B.The.Duckie
Summary: A potion gone wrong sends Hermione back in time. To the time of the Marauders, to be exact. She falls fast, but perhaps she isn't meant to be caught... Written with xakemii :D
1. Prologue

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii ~ !

Not a sequel to Interference.

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Hermione Granger furrowed her brow, glaring at the cauldron in front of her. It was times like this when she wondered why on earth she had declined the job offer she'd received at the Ministry to help Ron. Of course, helping Ron help George was a perfectly noble deed. It just wasn't quite what she had envisioned her life after the war to be like. She'd been surprised at the job offer - she was so young, after all. Had the Weasley's situation been different, she probably would have accepted.

But Fred... he'd gone. George hadn't been the same since. And Ron, surprisingly, had offered to take care of the shop. Even more surprisingly, George had handed over the keys without a word. It was still beyond Hermione how anyone, even one grieving, could possibly let Ronald Weasley take care of a long ago dream.

"Hermione!" Ron's voice rang through the shop as he called to her. "How's that going?"

She waited impatiently for him to come into the back room before replying curtly, "It's not. Ron, are you sure we ought to do this? They did ban Time Turners for a reason, you know."

In all honesty, she just couldn't be bothered any more. Recreating Time Turners with a potion was a lot harder than she had anticipated. The idea was brilliant. She liked the idea of Time Turners that weren't actually Time Turners. She wouldn't recreate a real one; that would be against the law. However, using the same idea of turning back time by drinking a potion did catch her fancy.

"I know, Hermione," Ron started to near the potion, slipping an apron on as he peered curiously at the potion. "That didn't stop you from using one in third year, did it?"

Frowning, she skimmed over the cabinet, her fingers dancing over several jars. "That was different. The Ministry hadn't made owning one illegal back then." She turned around, her frown deepening as she saw her friend leaning over the potion. "What _are_ you doing? Because, I swear, Ronald Weasley, if you touch that potion..." she trailed off, waving her wooden spoon in the air threateningly.

"I'm not doing anything!" He raised his hands in mock surrender. "And I didn't do that badly in Potions. I bet I could help."

"Yes you did, and no you couldn't," Hermione replied dryly, bustling over and knocking Ron out of her way. With a dramatic sigh, she added, "Though, if you're really that confident, I don't suppose you'd need my help around the shop any more."

At this, Ron took on the look of a wounded puppy - a wounded, _desperate_, puppy.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't be leaving any time soon. Anyway, where would I go? I don't think the Ministry is a big fan of me anymore, to be honest."

"You could go back to Hogwarts," Ron suggested, but not seriously. Everyone had known that Hermione had wanted to attend her seventh year at Hogwarts. If it hadn't been for the Ministry offer or the shop, Ron was fairly certain that she would have gone back to Hogwarts with his sister. Still, he didn't want her to leave the shop. He wasn't sure whether he could handle it without her. Looking after it without Fre - George was bad enough.

"They're half way through the school year now. I should've gone at the start of the year, along with Ginny and Luna," Hermione said, her eyes cast downwards. Blinking, she returned her gaze to Ron. "Not that I don't like working here. But... well, you know how I am about school."

"Mental, you are."

"Oh, shut up!" She was laughing though.

Hermione had thought a lot about going back to school. Professor McGonagall had told her she was always welcome to come back to finish her 7th year. But she couldn't just pack up and leave Ron by himself. She had considered doing her school work by correspondence, but the shop kept her so busy. One day George was going to come back though, and then they wouldn't need her. Who was going to want to hire someone who hadn't completed their NEWTs?

"I don't think it would do either of us any harm to go back to school," she told Ron, as she slapped his hand away from jar he was trying to pick up.

"Come on Hermione, we saved the Wizarding World, we don't need to go back to school." He pushed past Hermione's hand and grabbed the jar. He held it before her like he had just found the cure for the common cold. "I think this is what the potion is missing."

Hermione quickly scanned the label of the jar before shaking her head. She took the jar from his hands and put it back on the shelf.

"Sorry Ronald, that wouldn't work." She noticed the crestfallen look on his face and gave him a weak smile. "Have you talked to Harry recently?" Hermione asked, trying to change the conversation. She walked over and sat down on one of the stool's sitting in the corner. She gestured for Ron to come sit beside her, much to her despair he ignored her and continued to linger near the potion.

"Actually, I was talking to him yesterday," he murmured, staring in the frothing liquid. "He asked if I wanted a job as an Auror."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprised at this. The Ministry had offered them all jobs in the Auror department, but only Harry had taken the offer. Personally Hermione felt she had been through enough fighting for a life time, but she knew Ron had wanted to take the job. However, his loyalty to his brother had been stronger than his want to be an Auror.

"Oh," Hermione finally managed to reply.

"I didn't say yes," Ron told her hurriedly. "I mean, I can't just pack up and leave you here by yourself."

Hermione laughed at the worried tone of his voice. He seemed sincerely concerned that she would be mad about Harry's offer. "It's okay Ron," she said soothingly. "One day George will come back and he won't need us to run the store anymore. I think you should seriously consider the offer, you know as well as I do that you want to take the job."

Ron sat silently for a moment, contemplating her words. "But what about you?" he finally asked.

"I distinctly remember someone telling me I was the brightest witch of our age. I think I can manage a joke shop by myself."

"Do you _want_ to mange this place by yourself?"

"It wouldn't be that bad. And George will come back."

"You always say that, Hermione," Ron sighed, his eyes still scanning the shelves. "But what if he doesn't? If I were him, I wouldn't."

Upon hearing those words, she spun around furiously, glaring at him. "Yes, you would. This place," she paused to gesture at the building, "was a dream come true for them. For both them. I don't approve, I never have approved. But he'd be daft to throw _both_ of their dreams out their window. He'll come back." Turning her back on him once more, she bit her lip, scribbling notes on the potion.

"Don't have so much faith in him," Ron replied, unscrewing the lid of a jar and putting his hand inside to grasp a small black bead from inside it.

Hermione sighed heavily, slamming the record book down and turning to reprimand him. Instead, she saw her best friend, Ron Weasley, the only boy who had managed to stuff his potions exams up completely (except for perhaps Neville), place an unknown ingredient into her extremely delicate potion.

"RON!" Without thinking, Hermione launched herself in front of him, taking the full blow of the explosion. She lay on the ground, unmoving - the world around her, black.

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Author Stuff: La la la ~ ! Cliffhanger, sorry! We promise the next chapters will be longer, by the way. This was more of a long prologue type thing, if you get our drift. Either way, we hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 1

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

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_Falling. Falling. Falling._

She could feel herself plummeting through blackness. There was no air in her lungs to supply her silent screams. Wind whistled through her fingers as she searched for something to grab onto. Something, anything, but all she felt was nothing. Then it stopped.

Hermione could feel the wooden floor beneath her. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly. She moved to cradle her head in her hands and instantly regretted it as the sudden movement caused her head to throb. A moan escaped her lips as the world around her spun. Afraid she was going to throw up, she put her hands down on the ground to steady herself. When the world had finally stilled and her head had recovered, the panic started to set in.

She had told Ron that that ingredient wouldn't work. She was lucky to be in one piece after that thing had exploded. She had read about potion explosions that had left people with horrible injuries. Despite still feeling slightly groggy, Hermione remembered the explosion clearly. She saw what Ron dropping the small black bead into the instable potion. It looked harmless really, but she knew what the reaction would be. Adrenaline had kicked in and she had flung herself in front of Ron. After a quick scan of the room she realized that Ron wasn't there.

Wait. Where was here?

Cautiously she stood up and examined the room she was in. It appeared to be long deserted. The whole room was coated in a thick layer of dust; spider webs laced the ceiling and the window had been boarded up. The only furniture in the room was a table which was missing a leg and an abandoned chair lying upside down on the ground. Her eyes landed on a door on the opposite side of the room. A small door stood at the end of the room, and she walked closer to it, knowing she had no other options.

After brushing the spider web off the door handle, Hermione attempted to pull open the door. She wasn't surprised when it didn't budge. From the looks of things it probably hadn't been used in years. She reached into her pocket and was relieved to find her wand in its normal place. Without her wand she would have been completely useless. She tried an Alohomora charm to see if the door was locked, but when that had no effect she realized that it was just stuck.

"_Reducto," _she muttered, sending the door flying off its hinges. Dust that had been trapped there flew up in her face, causing her to cough. Scowling, she used the sleeve of her robe to wipe the dirt from her face.

The room she walked into seemed familiar. It was larger than the one she had woken up in, but in the same state. Covered in dust, with broken furniture scattered across the floor. She picked her way across the room, still feeling as though she had been here before. The door at the end of the room seemed to lead outside. The windows on either side of it were boarded up, but she could feel a breeze coming through the gaps in the planks of wood. This door opened without her having to use magic. It squeaked from built up rust but swung open easily enough.

Hermione shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun. Squinting, Hermione soon realized where she was.

"Diagon Alley," she whispered. Most of the shops she couldn't recognize, but it was definitely Diagon Alley. Further down she could make out the marble building that was Gringotts. She turned to look at the entranceway of the building she had just come from, searching for an address. She found it, and as she looked up at the building, she couldn't help but gasp.

"This is Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes... but in the past or the future?" she questioned, running her hand over the battered door.

"No one lives there."

At the sudden company, Hermione jumped, hurriedly putting her hood up. "Oh, I know, sir. I was just... curious."

The old man peered down at her for several moments before shaking his head and turning his back to her.

"Wait!" Hermione bit her lip, wondering whether to question if he had heard her previous statement. Deciding against it, she asked, "Could you please direct me to the bookstore? I'm new here, you see."

"Flourish and Blotts," he cocked his head to the side and extended a crooked finger, "is over there, miss."

Muttering her thanks, Hermione tugged her hood tighter, hoping to cover most of her face. She knew it was an over-reaction of sorts, but at the moment she figured that the less recognizable she was, the better. Trudging down the alley, she snuck peeks around her. Diagon Alley didn't look all that different, which didn't help her at all. The only thing for sure was that she had traveled in time. Forward or back, was the question.

She entered the bookshop, thankful when the familiar ding rang from above her. Perhaps she hadn't traveled too far. After all, if nothing had changed, it had to be close to her own time, didn't it?

"I suppose you need school supplies?" the lady sitting behind the counter asked, looking rather bored.

"No," Hermione muttered, keeping her head low. "Just browsing, thank you."

Hurriedly, she moved deeper into the bookstore, soon lost in the shelves. Her eyes skimmed over the books. Perhaps there was a spell she could cast - one that would give her the date. And even there wasn't, it would be good to figure out what, exactly, it was that Ron had dropped into the potion. Small, black, and an ingredient the twins had used. It couldn't be that hard to figure out.

A loud yell caused Hermione to stop her in search and peer out the window. Four teenagers, about her age, sauntered through the alley. One was short - dumpy looking. One looked worn and tired. The other two were knocking each other about, probably trying to get the other to crash into same poor, unsuspecting passerby. Hermione's eye, however, were peeled on one of the four. He looked - and she knew it was insane - almost exactly like Harry. Except he couldn't be Harry, because she didn't recognize the other three.

It was when the Harry look-a-like was pushed into a very annoyed redhead that Hermione clicked.

"The Marauders..." she breathed. Turning away from the window, she knelt down, her eyes wide from the sudden realization. She was in past. With her best friend's dead parents. With her best friend's dead godfather. With her dead professor. With a traitor who, ironically enough, was also dead.

This was bad. This was very bad. And this was a problem that she ought to go to Dumbledore for.

_Oh, Merlin. Dumbledore..._ Hermione bit her lip, blinking her eyes rapidly to stop tears from falling. Only now did she realize how many people she would see again - people she'd thought she'd only see when she joined them in death.

"What are you doing?" an amused voice asked.

It was because of this, that a surprised Hermione found herself losing balance and falling flat on her backside and glaring at the stranger above her. Refusing the hand that was offered to her, she groaned inwardly, pulling herself to her feet.

"What are _you _doing, frightening people like that?" she snapped.

"Didn't expect to see somebody on the floor." To Hermione's surprise, the boy grinned at her. Withdrawing the rejected hand, he simply nodded before introducing himself, "Remus Lupin. You?"

"Hermione," she replied quickly, forcing a gulp down. "Just Hermione."

"Are you new here?" Remus casually looked her up and down. "I haven't seen you before. You don't go to Hogwarts, do you?"

"I'm new. I'm from France," she supplied. She knew a little French; enough to carry a conversation, so it was an easy save. The rest of cover story would have to wait for later. Getting rid of Lupin was her main priority. She couldn't have him recognize her in the future. And other than that, she had to get to work on getting back. Dumbledore or not, staying simply wasn't an option.

"You don't sound very French."

Hermione turned her back to him, trying to look eager as her eyes drifted over the book titles. "Well, I am English. I went to an English school until I was old enough to attend Beauxbatons."

"So, you're done with school?"

"I dropped out and spent what would've been my final year travelling. If I wish to, I could go back to school and sit my exams." With each word, Hermione found herself cringing inside. Only under Cruciatus, had she been a very convincing liar.

Remus took a step closer to her, watching carefully as she scanned the shelf. "What are you looking for?"

"Light reading. Do you always ask strangers so many questions?"

"Only when my friends are preoccupied at the Quidditch shop."

"Lucky me," she muttered. She turned her back on him and let her eyes drift along the spines of books. Really she couldn't take in a single word she read, but she couldn't bear looking at Remus anymore. Her stomach was churning and all she really wanted to do was curl up in a corner and cry.

Unfortunately, Remus seemed to notice her discomfort.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He put a hand on her shoulder, probably as a comforting gesture. Hermione's felt her insides going ice cold as he did so, and she quickly shrugged his hand off. She spun around and forced herself to smile at the person whose dead body she had mourned over.

"Of course I'm okay." Her voice came out in a unconvincing high pitched squeak.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? You're as white as a ghost."

"Well, at least my head isn't hanging on by a mere inch of skin."

Remus looked at her in question. "How do you know about Nearly Headless Nick?"

Silently scolding herself for such a stupid mistake, Hermione tried to think of a reason she would know about a ghost at Hogwarts. A place where she had never been in her life."I had a pen-pal who went to Hogwarts."

"Oh, what was there name, I might know them?"

"Um, E-Emma," she stuttered, mentally cursing Remus for being so nosey. "Can't remember her last name. It was something long and foreign. I think it may have started with an L, or maybe a R. You probably wouldn't know her, she was a few years above me."

The slight smirk on Remus's face told her that he probably didn't believe her. She tried to changed the subject quickly.

"So you go to Hogwarts then?"

"Yeah, I'm in my final year."

As he said this Hermione had an idea. There was one person she needed to get a hold of. One person who might be able to fix all this.

"You must know Dumbledore then?"

"Or course, he's the Headmaster." He seemed puzzled by her question.

Hermione chewed on her lip nervously, before asking her next question. "Is there any chance you know how to get a hold or him?"

The chances were slim. She hadn't a clue where Dumbledore went over the summer. Maybe he just stayed at Hogwarts. Maybe he had summer house on the beach.

"Why?"

Hermione gaped at him for a moment. What was she meant to tell him? The truth? That she came from the future, a place where he, and his best friends and future wife, were dead. He would send her straight to St Mungo's.

"Well, I was thinking of finishing my last year at Hogwarts. Apart from I had problems with my owl, and it never got to Dumbledore. So, um, I need to talk to him," she finished lamely.

She couldn't tell whether he believed her or not. He seemed to be studying her intensely. Hermione held her breath, praying that this man was the same kind-hearted Remus she knew.

After what felt like hours he nodded."It might take a day or two though, Dumbledore is a busy man. But school doesn't start for another week."

Hermione didn't care how long it took as long as he'd do it.

"Where are you staying? So I can owl you?"

Hermione frowned. Where was she staying? Her first thought was getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron, but she didn't have any money. That only left her with one option. The place that would one day become the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"93 Diagon Alley," she told Remus.

He raised an eyebrow. Obviously he knew where Hermione was talking about. "Isn't that place abandoned?" Remus asked.

"You're a wizard, you of all people should know that things aren't always what they seem."

Hermione pushed past Remus and head towards the door. She would have liked to have stayed and browsed through the books longer, but that would have meant continuing to converse with Remus.

Hermione headed off down the street, back towards where the Joke Shop should have been. As she walked she past the Quidditch supplies shop. Slowing down she glanced inside. Her breath caught in her chest as she saw the three of them in there. The last time she had seen Sirius and Peter they had been old, worn and tired. Now they were fresh faced and youthful. James caught her attention too, as he spun a snitch in the air and caught it with a cocky grin on his face. People hadn't been exaggerating when they said the Harry looked like his father - he really did with the messy raven hair and crooked glasses practically hanging off his nose.

Hermione turned away from the Quidditch store, not wanting them to catch her staring. It had been bad enough trying talking to Remus; it would be nearly unbearable to be cornered by three of the now dead Marauders. How would she be able to look them in the eye knowing their fate? Especially Peter, the man who one day was going to betray his best friends. A sudden wave of anger passed over Hermione. She felt the urge to go in there and confront him. She fought this urge, knowing the rules of time travel. Theoretically telling them about Peter would save Harry's parents. But who knows how that could affect the future? Deciding it would be better if she avoiding contact with them, Hermione headed back to the joke shop.

Opening the door to the small room she had landed in, Hermione wrinkled her nose. The place obviously hadn't been lived in for years. Hermione surveyed the room. There was no bed for her to sleep on - actually, there wasn't really much there at all. She sighed. There was nothing that could be done about that. Her eyes landed on the cobwebs spread across the roof. She pulled out her wand and magically cleaned away the cobwebs and dust. The room seemed slightly more presentable. Better, but not by much.

Outside, night had fallen, causing the room temperature to drop significantly. Hermione lit a fire in the corner of the room. Momentarily, the flames made shadows dance across the wall behind. She shrugged off her cloak, folding it into a make-shift pillow. She rested her head on it as she lay down beside the fire. Sleep shouldn't have come easy. After the day she had had Hermione had expected to lie awake for hours. But as she lay there beside the blazing fire she found her eyelids growing heavy. She eagerly let the sleep take over her, hoping that her dreams wouldn't be plagued with her worries from the day.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry for the wait for this chapter. Over November both of us participated in National Novel Writing Month. Congratulations to xakemii for getting to 50,000 words and to RGBTheDuckie for... trying.

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews would be loved.


	3. Chapter 2

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

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Because of the fact that she had been brought up in a war Hermione wasn't too worried upon waking up in a strange and unrecognizable building. In fact, she was perfectly calm about it… for about three seconds, that is. Then the events of the past twenty-four hours hit her and she found herself gasping – her breathing quickening in pace.

She scrambled around the place, eventually pulling herself up and resting against a dusty wall, sniffing as the cobwebs broke and flew around her face. With a sigh, she pulled out her wand, muttering a quick spell and transfiguring a broken plank of wood into a small and basic watch that fitted around her wrist snugly.

"First things first," Hermione said to herself, completing the few cleaning spells that she had set up moments beforehand. "I suppose –"

She was cut off by the screech of an owl crashing through the dirt-covered window and flying wildly into the room, shards of glass going everywhere. Her first instinct to cover her face didn't fail her as she was not poked in the eye and blinded by a piece of glass. However, the incident didn't improve her mood and she didn't even give the poor owl a sound pat on the head as she wrenched the note from the creature's leg.

_Hermione,_

_Hopefully this gets to you safely and my owl (her name is Gracie, by the way) has… well, hopefully she stuck the landing for once._

_I've reached Dumbledore and he reckons that he can fit you into his "busy schedule". So meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at midday and we'll discuss? I mean, while he's not easy to contact, he's almost impossible to actually meet up with._

_See you then,_

_Remus Lupin_

She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as her eyes scanned over the note. As she crumpled the note in her palm, she smiled happily. Dumbledore would help her. She'd probably be home in a matter of hours.

Entering the Leaky Cauldron, the wide smile still graced her face and she sauntered in with little care for the world around her. Of course, this was not the best idea because when one forgets about their scenery, the result isn't often good. In this case, the result wasn't good and Hermione found herself with her bottom, now rather sore, on the ground and her before dancing eyes narrowed and glaring at the stranger who was grinning cockily at her with an outstretched hand.

"Watcha doing down there?" he asked.

Hermione scowled at the stranger, grudgingly taking his hand. After being pulled to her feet, Hermione brushed the dirt off her robes. Fingering a rip in her sleeve, her frown deepened.

"I believe someone knocked me over," she said, finally answering his question. She turned to get a better look at the person who had bumped into her, only to find she recognized the face beaming down at her. She sucked in air between her teeth. Why couldn't her trip back in time have been simple? Why did she keep bumping into the people who she least wanted to see? Apparently it was impossible to avoid the Marauders.

If Harry hadn't shown her the pictures of his parents wedding, Hermione probably never would have known who the person standing in front of her was. The years spent in Azkaban hadn't been good for Sirius Black. The handsome, smug figure in front of her had changed into a weathered old man due to the constant torment of Dementors. That was the Sirius she had known. The one whose most defining features were haunted face and straggly hair, but that didn't mean she hadn't heard the stories of Sirius Black in his days of womanizing glory.

Sirius leaned against the wall, studying Hermione. Hermione however was looking past Sirius, searching desperately for the sandy head of Remus Lupin. He wasn't there though, despite the fact her watch read twelve o'clock. He was late. In the years she had known him, Remus had never been late to anything. But now, when it really mattered, he just _had_ to be late, didn't he?

"Now, why haven't I seen you before? I know I'd have remembered a pretty face like that," Sirius said, looking at her intently.

Hermione didn't even attempt to reply. She also didn't try to close her mouth, which had fallen open at his remark. He was flirting with her. _Flirting. _She groaned turning to look at the door, praying Remus would walk in. Naturally, he didn't. _This really isn't my day,_ Hermione thought bitterly.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart," the boy tried again. "At least look at me, yeah? I promise you'll like what you see."

However, she kept her eyes peeled on the wooden door, refusing to turn and face him. Still, she replied in a tight voice saying, "Do I know you? Sorry," she added, not at all sorry in the slightest. "I'm looking for a friend. Remus Lupin. I don't suppose you know him?"

"Remus Lupin," he repeated drily. "You're looking for Remus Lupin?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, biting her lip in annoyance. Acting dumb was a little harder than she thought it would be. "Is he here?"

"I'm Sirius, by the way, Sirius Black."

Her patience was wearing thin and she snapped, "Brilliant. Now direct me to Remus Lupin, please?

Sirius, for once, kept his mouth shut as he stared at her in disbelief, merely pointing in the direction of the back of restaurant bar and gaping after her as she brushed past him without a seconds thought. She was faintly aware of several catcalls that echoed behind her as she stalked off in the direction of Remus.

"Sirius got to you then, huh?" Remus said, a small smile on his face as he noted her rather stiff demeanour. "Come on," he said, standing up and taking hold of her shoulder, subtly winking in Sirius's direction (just because he could, of course). "We should head upstairs."

"Upstairs? Where the rooms are?"

"Yes. Where the rooms are," he confirmed. With a quick glance around the two, he added a low voice, "Dumbledore isn't the sort for a public meeting, you see."

"Oh right, so he chooses the place that is, of course, the place that will _not _spark off any rumours about the two of us, right?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, which only served to amuse the Marauder further. She frowned at his stifled laughter. "It's not funny, Lupin."

He smirked at her, showing that he disagreed with that statement. "Just go," he said, gently nudging her towards the stairs.

Reluctantly Hermione obliged. She stole a glance behind them, her eyes landing on Sirius. He was still watching them, looking completely dumb-struck. Hermione didn't even want to know what was running through his head at that moment.

The Leaky Cauldron appeared not to be much different than it was in the future. The winding staircase lead up to a hallway lined with doors. Behind the doors, Hermione knew there were the rooms. The first time she had stayed here was in third year. She remembered while brushing her hair the mirror had informed her about a good charm she could use to 'de-frizz' her hair. Naturally, Hermione had been quite offended by this. But that wasn't what she was here to do and she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, trying not to think about Remus, James, Sirius, the "Traitor" and the wise man that would be waiting for her behind of the many doors in front of her.

Remus wandered down the hallway, scanning the golden numbers fixed on the doors. Finally he stopped at number 39. Hermione came to stand beside him as he knocked lightly on the door. From behind it she heard a distant voice telling them to enter. Hermione tried the door handle, finding it unlocked she swung it open. She took a step inside, before realizing that Remus hadn't followed her.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

He shook his head, looking slightly amused. "I don't think this is a meeting I need to attend."

Hermione realized he was right; there was no need for him to come and it was probably better he didn't. Hermione planned on telling Dumbledore the truth - something she had been avoiding doing with the Marauders she kept bumping into.

"It was nice meeting you Hermione. I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts."

Despite the fact that if all went well she would never see him again, Hermione nodded. She watched as he walked away. A wave of sadness flooded over her as she realized that this was the last time she was going to see him. She gnawed at her lip, wishing there was something that she could do to change what was going to happen to him. But it was impossible. With one last wistful glance at Remus, Hermione entered the room.

Downstairs, Sirius had taken a seat at an empty table. The image of what had just happened was still clear in his mind. Yet he still couldn't quite believe it. Due to his state of shock, Sirius didn't notice the person standing in front of him until he had called his name.

"Padfoot, snap out of it!" James Potter waved his hand in front of his best friends face.

Sirius lifted his glazed over eyes to look at him. "Mate, you are not going to believe what I am about to tell you."

James took a seat next to him. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned by the solemn tone in Sirius' voice.

"Moony is upstairs. With a girl. A pretty one at that."

James grinned, sure that Sirius had been joking. He had known Remus since their first day at Hogwarts and not once in the years that followed had Remus had a girlfriend. Due to the circumstances, James didn't really blame him. It would have been awkward to try to give excuses once a month. What if she had found out? Most people didn't take lightly to werewolves.

James stopped chuckling as he noticed Sirius hadn't even cracked a smile. James face fell. "You're not joking." James reclined back in his chair, his mind reeling. They were going to be able to make fun of Remus about this for years to come.

"Not only that, this girl was immune to my charm. She completely ignored me. She choose Moony over me." Sirius sighed, looking irritated. "What is the world coming to?"

James smirked. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Remus coming down the stairs. "Well, that was quick," he remarked.

"Maybe werewolves don't last long?"

"Gods!" James exclaimed, a look of disgust flashing in his eyes. "You're disgusting, Padfoot!"

Sirius only frowned though. "Or maybe it was the thought of getting into the girl's pants?" He smirked with a rather pointed look in James's direction. "We all know you'd cream yourself at the mere idea of Evans shagging you. Moony could be just as weak, you know..."

"Do we _have_ to talk about this?"

"'Course not," Sirius said haughtily. "It's just fun to see you blush that absolutely _lovely_ shade of pink, Prongsie, m'dear."

"Oh, sod off," James protested, pushing his friend on the shoulder and nodding in Remus's direction. "Here he comes."

Sirius, however, had had his eye on the teenage boy for a while now and this wasn't news for him. After giving a rather loud yell, Remus slowly made his way towards his two friends, inwardly cringing at the interrogation that was sure to follow.

"Before you say anything," he started, raising his hands in a sign of surrender, "I know nothing about her."

"You don't even know her?" Sirius groaned, unsure of how his dignity could be trampled on further. "And you two got a room together?"

"We did not!" Remus retorted indignantly. In a hushed voice he continued, "I bumped into her - literally - yesterday. Complete nutcase, she is. Practically ignored until she realized that I could find Dumbledore for her."

"Pretty thing, though."

James shook his head at Sirius in disbelief. "You think anything with a skirt and two legs is a _pretty thing_."

"The point is," Remus interrupted sharply, "... hey, where's Peter?"

"How is that the point? And he's at his mother's - something about times being too dangerous for young boys to be out on the streets by themselves," Sirius mimicked. He stopped chuckling when Remus glared at him and he cleared his throat. "Uh, right. The point, Moony?"

"She's just a bit odd. Hermione, she said her name was. Went to same French school... for a bit, anyway. Doesn't have a trace of the accent though. Make sense?"

"Not at all."

Remus nodded. "That's what I thought. Speaking of which, d'you anyone by the name of Emma?"

"Emmeline?"

"No, no, just Emma."

Sirius and James shrugged. "Nah. Why?"

"No reason," he said casually, his eyes darting up, wondering what on Earth the mysterious new girl could possibly want with Dumbledore and why, exactly, she had been so desperate to get to him. How many lies was she willing to spin to get whatever it was she wanted? Then again, she may not have been lying. But she was still a shady character. Remus subconsciously touched the covered bite wound on his shoulder. He'd learnt long ago not to trust shady characters.

- x -

The Dumbledore that sat in front of Hermione didn't look much different than the one she knew. His hair was a few shades darker grey and he seemed slightly less frail. But his eyes still sparkled blue beneath the same pair of half moon spectacles. Hermione sat silently as she watched him process what she had told him.

Hermione had been careful of course. She couldn't tell Dumbledore about the future, no matter how much she wanted to. She had simply told him about the potion she was making and how it had gone wrong, really wrong. Somehow she had been sent back in time, and now she was in desperate need of his help.

Dumbledore didn't looked shocked, just mildly interested. He had the same calm manner that he always had. Hermione waited nervously for him to say something.

"It seems to me, Miss..."

"Granger," Hermione prompted. As soon as she had said it she wondered if it was wise for her to have told him here last name.

"It seems to me, Miss Granger, that I can be of no help to you," Dumbledore said.

Hermione's mouth fell open. "What?" she screeched.

Dumbledore gave her a look causing Hermione to fall silent. It probably wasn't best to yell at the person she had been hoping would help her. "I know nothing about the potion you were going to use," he told her.

This was true, but he was one of the greatest Wizards she knew of, the only one Voldemort had ever feared. Hermione told Dumbledore this. He just smiled.

"You flatter me, Miss Granger, but from what you say this potion hasn't even been created in the future. It would be impossible for me to make it."

Hermione ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had been so sure that Dumbledore was going to fix everything. "You have to be able to help me," she exclaimed. "Otherwise I'm stuck here, in the past."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling. "I see no reason why you can't make the potion. You seem to have made one mostly successful one already."

Hermione, who had dropped her head in her hands, looked up. He wasn't seriously suggesting she make another potion. You know, because it had turned out _so well_ the first time. She stared at him, wondering if it was possible to beg him to reconsider.

"I don't even have a home, sir," she explained. "How on Earth do you expect me find a suitable place to attempt to make the potions? Finding the ingredients themselves would be a hassle. Getting them legally would be impossible. I've got no money here, you see."

"And the problem with I, myself, supporting you is...?"

"I couldn't possibly ask that of you, sir," Hermione gushed. _Actually, yes I could, considering you've been next to no help so far,_ she added in her mind. "I just need a place to stay, really. I could find a part-time job elsewhere and earn a few galleons that way."

"I should think that you'll have plenty of space, Miss Granger."

"Excuse me?"

The headmaster leaned forward, his beard tickling the table that the two were conversing at. "At Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts," Hermione repeated meekly.

"Yes. So what do you say?"

"Hogwarts."

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, mistaking her exasperated sigh for one of excited happiness. "Well then. It is my pleasure to offer you a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Miss Granger. School term starts tomorrow. I assume you can catch the train yourself?"

She nodded stiffly. "Of course I can. I... I look..." she trailed off. "I look forward to seeing you again."

With that, she pushed away from the table and scurried out of the room, not stopping until she had reached the bottom of the stairs, only to be met by the watchful eyes of the Marauders. Hogwarts. Brilliant. What could she possibly want more other than the opportunity to attend school with a bunch of dead people?

Hermione's lips pursed at the thought. Yes. Absolutely _brilliant_.

* * *

Authors' Notes:

Reviews are loved :)


	4. Chapter 3

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

* * *

Remus looked up as Hermione walked into the room and it wasn't a surprise that as soon as his attention was diverted that Sirius and James looked up too. Sirius, still wearing a scowl on his face, gave a low growl. Not seeming deterred by Sirius's obvious discomfort, Hermione gave a tight smile, making her way over to the trio.

"All went well then," Remus stated, nodding slightly at her grimace. "You'll be coming to Hogwarts."

"She's _what_?"

"Attending Hogwarts," Hermione said in confirmation. "Is that a problem for you, Black?"

Sirius didn't look impressed by this, but kept his head down and refusing to look her in the eye. Only when James jabbed him in the side with his elbow did Sirius look up, shaking his head stiffly. "Course not."

Hermione ignored him, instead turning to Remus. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me," she said.

"It was no problem," he told her.

Hermione nodded. She felt Sirius's eyes watching her. Not wanting to have him ogling at her any longer, Hermione said a quick good bye and backed away from the table of staring Marauders.

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind her.

Hermione turned to find Tom standing in front of her. Despite the fact the Tom before her had all of his teeth and a full head of hair, Hermione still recognized the hunched over posture and slightly grim expression.

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you that room thirty-nine is available for you to stay in tonight."

Although Hermione didn't want to take handouts, especially from Dumbledore, she was glad for the room. Another night sleeping on the floor would have been ghastly.

"He also wanted me to give you this."

Hermione took the heavy envelope from Tom. It had money in it. She could feel the galleons, sickles and knuts rolling around in the bottom of the envelope. She scowled, feeling like a charity case. Hermione open the envelope. Inside, along with the coins, were two pieces of parchment. One she recognized as the Hogwarts supplies list. The other was a hand written letter. She pulled it out, quickly scanning the words.

_Miss Granger,_

_The enclosed money is to help you with your endeavours to create your potion. There is also money to get supplies for school, although your books can be found on the bed in room thirty-nine._

_I don't think I need to tell you that you can tell no one about this. Time Travel is dangerous - any variation to the past could destroy the future. Tell no one about your potion if possible, it will only lead to questions._

_I wish you the best of luck, Miss Granger. Though, you may need a different last name should you know any of your peers in the future. I shall leave you to that and I will no doubt see you at your Sorting tomorrow._

_Albus Dumbledore._

Hermione sighed. Another secret potion. She closed her eyes momentarily, hoping there was still a free space in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She walked away from the three boys who had suddenly gone silent and trailed up the stairs. Her footsteps echoed behind her as she passed the constant row of doors, only just catching the rusty numbers from the corner of her eye.

When she finally entered room thirty-nine she wasn't sure whether to be pleased or horrified. The room was fairly large with a decent sized bed and a lovely set of drawers (though she would have been more pleased with the latter had she actually had any clothes to put in them), but when it came to cleanliness the room was just as bad as the to-be shop was. It must have been one of those rooms that Tom had never planned on renting out unless there he was in dire need of it.

With an irritated and very unladylike grunt, Hermione flung herself onto the bed, her already bad mood dropping considerably as the dust responded by flying into her face causing her cough violently. Rubbing her eyes, Hermione laid back - gently this time - and contemplated her next move. Had this been in the future she would have immediately begun to study and flick through the books that sat on the end of her bed. But considering the circumstances, Hermione guessed that year ahead of her would need more planning than simple guidance notes on her subjects.

The money in the envelope, much to both her relief and despair, wasn't an awful lot. It was enough to buy the few ingredients that she remembered putting into the potion, a few quills and parchment and some robes. Having never had to live on a proper budget before, Hermione found herself gritting her teeth at the thought of having to actually do so. If anything, all she could do was hope that in the past things weren't quite so expensive as they were in her time - and with a bit of luck, they might be better quality too.

Taking the envelope from the duchess that she had set it on earlier, Hermione headed downstairs. The train was due to leave tomorrow and she didn't feel like rushing around Diagon Alley at insane times in the morning just to find a quill. And anywhere, there's no time like the present, right?

"Oh, Tom," Hermione said, stopping by at the counter for a moment. "Not to be troublesome, but you could send someone to dust my room a bit? Thank you."

With that, she flew out of the bar, blissfully unaware of the three pairs of curious eyes that followed her.

The Marauders were thoroughly unimpressed. Remus, simply because her story was more pathetic and just as ill-planned as James's attempts to Lily. Sirius, because the fact that she'd refused _him_ and then spoken to Remus, of all people. The boy was his friend - one his best - but _honestly_, that boy had less charm than a hippogriff and wasn't nearly as devilishly handsome as himself. James, on the other hand, found her greatly amusing (only because she'd denied Sirius bragging rights), but if Remus didn't like her, neither did he.

"Something's off about her," Sirius said.

Remus nodded his agreement. "Yeah. Can't put my finger on it."

"I reckon she's foreign."

"Now, now, Padfoot, there's nothing wrong with that."

The third sighed, rummaging around in his bag until the all too familiar black cloth came into sight. He pulled the cloak out cautiously. "Stop it," he said with a grin. "Who's up for _actually_ finding out?"

When James had first got his hands on the invisibility cloak, all three of them had easily fitted underneath. That had been back when they were innocent firsties. Now as seventeen year olds, they still had the trouble making spirit they had all possessed back then, but were no longer short enough to hide comfortably.

They stood shoulder to shoulder. They had to bend their knees to stop the cloak showing off their ankles. Slowly, very slowly, they walked through Diagon Alley like this. They weaved around people passing by, never taking their eyes off Hermione. While she purchased Hogwarts robes from Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, they sat silently in the corner. They followed her into Flourish and Blotts, only to be disappointed when she only bought a quill. From what they had seen, Hermione seemed nothing out of the ordinary. Just an average Hogwarts student. She had done nothing to lead them to believe she was up to anything.

It was in the Apothecary where they noticed something.

Remus knew that Sirius was starting to get bored. Padfoot was like a brother to him, but he also had the attention span of a goldfish. He himself was starting to wonder if their efforts had been in vain. Maybe Hermione wasn't up to anything. Maybe he was just overly suspicious.

Hermione stood scanning the shelves. Not something exactly out of the ordinary. She picked something up and examined it. He raised an eyebrow. Odd, he thought. Remus gestured for them to move closer so he could get a better look at the ingredient in her hand. Cautiously they shuffled forwards so they were close enough to make out what was in her hand.

"Aconite," Remus whispered.

James and Sirius simply stared at him.

"Moony, that means nothing to either of us," James told him.

Remus sighed.

"While the leaves are toxic the flowers are a useful potion ingredient," he explained patiently. "But it isn't used in Potion class in Hogwarts. I can't think why she would need it." He squinted, trying to identify the other ingredients she had. He was only half surprised to find that most of them weren't required for school work.

"She must be brewing a potion," Remus thought aloud, louder than intended. He instantly regretted it when Hermione's head looked up in their direction. Her hand, which had been had been hovering along the rows of jars, froze. Remus didn't look at his friends, knowing the looks they would be giving him after he had gotten them caught.

Hermione walked towards them. There was no way she was able to see them, but as she stepped closer it was increasingly likely she could hear their breathing. She stopped and stared directly at the space that they were standing in. She raised a hand, as if she was going to reach out and touch them. All three of them held their breath in anticipation as they watched her. When her fingers were just centimeters away from them, she dropped her hand. They watched in disbelief as she walked to the counter to pay.

"That was close," James breathed. "She nearly saw us."

"No thanks to Moony," Sirius muttered, elbowing his friend.

"Come on, she's leaving," Remus said, trying to change the subject from the stupidity of his mistake.

Hermione was walking quickly now. She hurried through the masses of people. This caused great difficulty to the people trailing her. They had to run, hunched over, to keep up with her. She turned suddenly away from the main street. They mimicked this, following her into a small alley.

Hermione had stopped walking, and stood with her back to them. The Marauders moved closer to her as quietly as they could. They didn't speak, but all were thinking the same thing. There was no houses here, no people, no stalls. There appeared no reason for her to come down here. Slowly she turned around, her wand now gripped in her hand. They realised too late what was happening when she aimed it at them.

"_Accio _cloak_."_

The cloak flew off them, landing in Hermione's waiting hands. James swore as they stood, no longer invisible, in front of her.

"How did you know?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I had a friend who owned one of these," she explained. "I guess you use it for the same things he did. Sneaking around and getting yourselves into trouble." A fleeting smile past across her face. "Although, I don't believe he ever used it to follow people."

She caught Sirius' eye, who looked away guiltily. Clearing her throat, she gathered her bags and scrambled past the three, pushing the cloak into James's chest. She paused before disappearing around the corner, looking at the three over her shoulder.

"I would advise," she said, her voice faltering as she spoke, "that you be more careful with that cloak."

After she was sure that she made a good distance between them and that they definitely weren't following her (invisible or otherwise). Within moments, she was sprinting towards the Leaky Cauldron, her bags rustling as they brushed against the crowd she was barging through.

"Hermione!" Tom called to her as she attempted to make a clean getaway up the stairs. "I had that room dust-"

"Thank you, Tom!" she yelled back, scrambling up the stairs, almost collapsing as she hurried and almost tripped over her bags.

Upon actually reaching her room, Hermione took a deep breath of relief. Well, for her first day in the past, she supposed it hadn't gone too badly. The Marauders, she guessed, thought she was odd. Either that, or they had an extremely odd obsession with new girls. It didn't bother her. After all, the real situation was hardly going to be easy for them to guess. And although it would kill her to do it, well, if they actually did find out, she could always hold the werewolf thing over them.

She shuddered, placing the books on the drawer and putting her bags next to the bed before crawling under the covers. No, no, she shouldn't even be thinking about blackmail. She was to focus on the potion. That was it. Tomorrow, she would attend Hogwarts.

Tomorrow. Hermione sighed, pulling the duvet over head. Tomorrow.

* * *

AN:

First, thank you for reading :) Sorry about the slightly shorter chapter.

Secondly, both of us are going away over Christmas and New Years and will be without precious internet. Kimberley won't be back till late January, so we should post soon after that. However we have another chapter up our sleeves which I shall post early January.

Hope everyone reading this has a great holiday :)

Remember, reviews are great Christmas presents.


	5. Chapter 4

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii

* * *

Hermione stood impatiently in front of the barrier. Her eyes watched the Muggles passing by. She glanced at her watch. Seven minutes to eleven. She gritted her teeth. Somehow she had managed to sleep in, meaning she was later getting to Kings Cross then she would have liked.

When Hermione was sure no one was watching, she started towards the solid brick. No matter how many times she did it, Hermione always felt the need to close her eyes. There was a part of her that still expected to hit the wall - the same part of her that breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't go splat.

As always, the platform was more than busy and Hermione struggled through the students to get onto the train. Just like the very first time she'd gotten onto the Hogwarts Express, she found herself biting her lip, praying that someone would take pity on her lonely self and invite her into their compartment. The Marauders, she noted from the corner of her eye, seemed to have a claimed a compartment for the four of them. What she wouldn't do to go up and apologize for her actions... maybe then she'd actually have friends in this time.

Hermione sighed, leaning with her back flat against the wall as the students scrambled and pushed past her. Why could she have possibly wanted to go back to school? This was awful. The only people on the train she knew probably hated her for her coldness the day before. To everyone else she was just the strange new girl. No one ever liked that new girl.

Walking aimlessly through the train, Hermione's eyes scanned the doors. She half hoped someone would invite her to join them. She would do anything for a friendly face. But naturally, no one asked. The chances of finding an empty carriage were slim, but Hermione was still disappointed when she found every one full.

Hermione's eyes fell on a carriage. Inside were three girls who appeared to be around the same age as Hermione. Knowing she had to do it, Hermione knocked on the door, before sliding it open. They froze mid conversation, all turning to stare at Hermione.

"Um, hi," Hermione said awkwardly. "Do you if I sit here? I'm new here and everywhere else is full."

There was silence while the three girls seemed to take in what she had just said. Hermione held her breath, watching them studying her. Finally the girl sitting closest to her smiled warmly.

"Of course you can," she said. "I'm Alice and this is Marlene." She gestured the girl sitting next to her. "And that's Lily. She's Head Girl," she added tactfully.

Hermione turned, resisting the urge to gasp as she saw the flaming hair and ivy eyes. Just my luck, she thought bitterly. Of all the people in Hogwarts, Lily Evans, Harry's dead mother, had to be the one she bumped into. Feeling sick, Hermione forced a smile and she sat down next to Lily.

"My name's Hermione, by the way," she told them. They nodded politely.

"So why have you started at Hogwarts so late?" Marlene asked forwardly.

Hermione noticed Alice and Lily giving her a look, which she ignored. "I went to Beauxbatons," she said, using the same story she had told Remus. "I'm doing my last year here at Hogwarts."

Marlene nodded, obviously satisfied with this story.

"Oh, you'll be in the same year as us," Lily exclaimed. "Do you know what house you're going to be in? We are all in Gryffindor."

"No, I don't," Hermione said, shaking her head. She hadn't really thought about that. In the note he had left, Dumbledore had said that he would see her at the Sorting. She sighed, one sorting had been enough stress for a life time. It wouldn't do not to be sorted in Gryffindor; her pride would wounded terribly. But on the other hand, it would be a lot easier to avoid certain people if she was put in, say, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

Alice, she remembered, would be Neville's mother. Her black hair was scrapped into a messy bun and if Hermione was being honest with herself, she would have admitted that Alice wasn't actually much to look at; she was rather plain, actually. Oddly, Hermione found herself drawn to the girl's eyes. She found it difficult to believe that one day such lovely eyes would be blank - emotionless from insanity.

"So what's France like?" Alice chimed in a desperate attempt to save the non-existent conversation.

"My parents are English so I don't spend much time in France apart from school."

The silence stretched on. Hermione glanced out the window. The train had only just started to move away from the platform. It was going to be a long trip awkward trip unless somehow they managed to make conversation.

"Have you meant anyone else yet?" Lily asked.

"Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James Potter," Hermione said without thinking.

There was a gasp and all three girls gaped at her. "You've met the Marauders?" Marlene asked.

Hermione remembered Harry telling her about his parents' relationship before they got together. From what he has said, she assumed that these girls must hate the Marauders. "They were horrible," she added quickly, not wanting to offend the people who had been nice enough to let her sit with them.

The expressions on the girls faces showed that they agreed with her, Lily's grin being the widest. In one smooth motion, Lily slung her arm around Hermione's shoulder and with a laugh, said, "You know what? I think we could be good friends."

Hermione laughed - her first genuine laugh since the incident.

"So when did you meet them?" Marlene asked, brushing her fingers through her brown hair. "Lily, pass me that hairbrush, will you?"

"Remus, I met in Flourish and Blotts. The rest at the Leaky Cauldron."

"The rest? You've met Peter too, then?" Lily said, leaning over and handing her friend the brush. "Really, Marlene, your hair looks fine."

Marlene wasn't consoled though and wrenched the brush from Lily's grasp, pulling it thankfully through her already silky hair. "You have to say that, Lily. Shut up for a moment will you?" She grinned and turned to Hermione, squeezing her shoulder fondly. "Come on, tell us how the _Marauders_ charmed their way into your world, Hermione. Merlin, that's an unusual name, if you don't mind me saying so."

"Marlene!" Lily scolded with a wince. She gave Hermione a weak smile. "Sorry about her."

"It's alright," Hermione said, grinning. "And no, I haven't met Peter yet. I haven't really met the others anyway - not properly."

"You don't _want_ to," Marlene butted in, not at all put off by Lily reprimanding her earlier. "And anyway, if you happen to like them, Lily will refuse to talk to you." Ignoring Lily's squeak of a protest, she continued on, "I'm not joking. She hates them. Oh, alright, stop looking at me like that, Lily! She _strongly dislikes_ James - Potter, I mean."

"I think they're alright."

Hermione looked shocked as she stared at Alice. The other two girls were rolling their eyes at their friend and Hermione cocked an eyebrow. She had expected that all three of the girls would dislike the Marauders, but Alice had looked oddly sincere as she had spoken, despite the awkwardness of what she was saying.

"What?" Alice asked, noting Lily and Marlene's exasperated expressions. "Frank said they're okay."

Marlene giggled. "Oh, _Frank _said, did he?"

"Yeah."

"And obviously _Frankie_ is always right," Marlene sang teasingly.

Oblivious to Marlene's joking tone, Alice replied, "Not always, just usually."

The chatter went on and as the hours passed Hermione found herself feeling comfortable sitting with them. Mostly, she spoke with Lily, listening to her complain and tell stories of the Marauders and their pranks and James pursuing her. To Hermione, an outsider, Lily's annoyance seemed genuine. When she'd heard to story, told by Sirius, in the future, she'd always assumed that Lily had always loved James and had trust issues or was simply playing hard to get. This, however, didn't seem to be the case.

After telling yet another of James's crazy whims to make Lily fall for him, Lily stood, brushing down her Muggle jeans and grabbing her bag from the floor. "I've got to go the meeting. You three better get changed, we'll be arriving soon."

"Don't have too much fun with Potter," Marlene called after her, a wide grin spreading over herself as she heard Lily's indignant huff as she closed to compartment door. Catching Hermione's feigned confused expression she explained, "He's Head Boy. Lily's going to go spare, I reckon."

"She doesn't seem to impressed by him," Hermione remarked, watching as Marlene cast a locking charm on the door and pulled down the blinds. Following her lead, Hermione covered the windows.

"Oh, thanks for that," Marlene said, looking at the now covered windows. She wasn't shy as she tugged her shirt over her head and replaced it with her school blouse. "No, she doesn't like him at all."

Hermione looked away politely, rather shocked when Alice began to do the same. "You get dressed here?"

"It's better than fighting for a spot in the bathroom."

"I can imagine it would be."

She had heard of girls doing it before. It was just that after so many years of sharing a compartment with two boys, the idea had never occurred to her as a good one. It seemed silly to go into the bathroom by herself, so Hermione did as the other two were doing, shimming into her uniform, but finding it odd to not have the red and gold emblem or proudly place her Gryffindor tie around her neck.

Marlene looked her up and down, nodding in approval. "I hope you're in Gryffindor. Someone has explained the houses to you, haven't they? Gryffindor - the best house - for bravery, Slytherin - the worst house by far - for the cunning, Ravenclaw for those too smart for their own good and Hufflepuff for loyalty."

"I suppose I'll be Ravenclaw then," Hermione said with a shrug. "I always got good grades at Beauxbatons and I wouldn't really fit the bill for the rest."

"Nonsense," Marlene protested. "You'll be sorted in Gryffindor. I can feel it. By the way, you'll have to teach me French. I've been _dying_ to learn the language ever since I met you!"

"A whole three hours?"

"She means ever since she met that cute French guy at school," Alice corrected. "He's in... what house is he in, again?"

"Hufflepuff," she replied a bit too quickly.

Alice shrugged. "I don't see why you don't just ask Sirius to teach you some. He's fluent, you know? In French, Latin and Australian."'

"You do know that Australians speak English, don't you?"

The realization dawned on Alice's face and Hermione stifled a laugh. Had Lavender or Parvati said something so silly she might have scoffed or rolled her eyes, but the blonde moment seemed so natural on Alice - cute even.

"I knew that..."

Marlene winked at Hermione before turning to Alice and saying, "No you didn't, my dear. And I'm not bloody asking Black because I've got Hermione here willing to teach me. And not only is her company worth hundreds of him, she's a damn sight prettier too." She finished off with a languid sweep of her arm, pressing close to Hermione in an almost compromising way.

"Oof! Get off me!" Hermione squealed, pushing the girl away from her.

"No worries, _darling_, I'm straight - straighter than a pole, I am."

"Only because a bent pole is harder to dance around," Alice muttered, obviously feeling rather vengeful.

Marlene looked appalled and was about to snap a witty comeback when a knock at the door stopped her.

"It's Lily, you idiots!" Lily, clearly furious, yelled, banging on the window. "Let me in, for Merlin's sake!"

"You should have your wand, Lil," Marlene called back lazily, twirling her friend's wand between two fingers. "Dangerous times like these, you should be carrying it everywhere." Nonetheless, she opened the door with her own, throwing Lily's wand at her as she entered the compartment. Unfortunately, Lily hadn't been expecting her wand to be thrown at her and it clattered to the floor.

Bending over with a huff, Lily was steaming. "I cannot believe I spent a whole _ten minutes_ in the same room with _Potter_."

"What did you do to deserve such torture?" Marlene deadpanned. "Being stuck in a compartment with the hottest boy in the school. I feel _so_ sorry for you."

"Shut up! It was terrible."

Alice, finding now a suitable time to jump in, said, "It can't have been that bad."

"But it was. All the girls were mooning over every single bloody word he said - wouldn't listen to me. And the boys were worse! Kept asking him about Quidditch. Quidditch! We were meant to be discussing our duties!" Lily ranted, using the hairbrush that Marlene had long forgotten about to hit the seat cushion repeatedly in hopes of releasing her anger.

"I like Quidditch," Marlene said simply.

"You play?" Hermione asked, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that didn't involve _that_ boy.

"Oh yeah," Alice replied. "Well, I don't. But Marlene's a chaser. Sirius - he's a beater, by the way - always makes a point to hit a bludger at her during practice."

"He doesn't succeed though," Marlene snapped in defence.

The black haired girl nodded. "Yes he does." Standing, she added, "I told Frank I'd get a carriage with him and Emmeline. I'll see you lot later. Good luck with your Sorting, Hermione."

It was with that simple good luck that Hermione felt herself pale. In a couple of hours, she would be placed in a house. Not surprisingly, she was hoping tonight she would sleeping upstairs in a _Gryffindor_ dormitory with the red and gold colours charmed onto every piece of her uniform.

Lily must have noticed her sudden discomfort because she offered a smile. "It doesn't matter what house you're in, really. I used to have a good friend in Slytherin."

Marlene groaned at the mention. "_Severus_ was not a good friend, Lily."

"He was," she protested weakly. "You didn't know him before we came here."

"Who cares? He's a slimy, disgusting, greasy little -"

"Stop it! Stop it, for Merlin's sake. You sound just like Potter."

"Oh, I wish I did. He's got _such_ a sexy voice..."

"You can have him then."

"Uh, girls?" Hermione said quietly, pleasantly surprised with they both stopped to look at her. She gestured to the window - the view coming to a standstill. "We've arrived."

And sure enough, students were hopping the train dragging suitcases and bags and yelling at each other with flailing arms. Hermione gulped and was soon just another student in the crowd, sitting up in awe and staring at Dumbledore. For Hermione, the Sorting went quickly. That is, until it was her turn.

"Dalkin, Hermione!"

_Dalkin_? Hermione questioned silently, making her way to the stool. The Hat, though not quite so worn as he was, sat comfortably on her head.

- x -

_Dalkin... Hermione... What's your real name, huh?_

"Try Granger. Hermione Granger."

_Ah, that does suit you more, doesn't it?_

"Of course."

_Tell me, then. Where'd I put you the first time, Miss Time Traveller?_

"Does it matter?"

_You want to know if you're a true Gryffindor then, don't you?_

"Gryffindor, then?"

_Why should time change your house, Granger?_

"Circumstances change."

_Don't be smart with me or I'll change your house just for fun. The Slytherins have been looking for some new bait, you know?_

"The Slytherins wouldn't be able to touch me."

_Care to put that to the test?_

"I dare say that'll be put the test either way."

_Now there's the Gryffindor spirit I've been looking for._

**"GRYFFINDOR!"**

- x -

To Hermione, the conversation inched by slowly as she waited for his verdict, but as she looked around and walked towards the clapping Gryffindor table, she realized that her sorting lasted no longer than the rest and no one was looking at her in odd ways. She slid in next to Marlene, who immediately gave her a quick hug. Lily, sitting awkwardly next to James who had obviously pushed his way through the crowds and stolen the seat when she wasn't looking, gave Hermione a proud nod.

"Knew you'd be a Gryffindor, Hermione," Alice told her with a smile, squeezing her hand over the table. "This is Frank, by the way."

Hermione nodded. "Nice to meet you."

Frank, not surprisingly, looked like his son. Or rather, Neville looked like him.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, Dalkin."

"Hermione's fine, really," she insisted. Keeping up her image she said, "I transfered here from Beauxbatons."

"You're fluent in French then? You'll be able to talk to Benoit."

"Benoit!" Alice exclaimed, snapping her fingers and shooting Marlene a pointed look. "That's his last name. What's his first, Frank?" Turning to Hermione she said, "Frank knows _everyone_."

"Julian," he answered. "What's the sudden interest in Benoit?"

With a wicked grin, Alice said, "Marlene's taken a fancy to him."

"He's in my Transfiguration class, I think."

Hermione perked up at the mention of classes. Sparing a potato, she asked, "What are the teachers like here, anyway?"

"They're alright," Alice said with a shrug. "McGonagall... she's the one that looks like a carrot got stuck up her arse... yeah, her." She nodded as Hermione pointed out the older lady. "She's a bit of a hardcase, but she's alright, really. Teaches Transfiguration. Slughorn, oh, he looks a bit drunk... yeah, he's that one." Alice nodded again. "Teaches potions. Complete pushover."

She couldn't help but laugh this time, despite feeling a little bit guilty for having a giggle at her professor's expense.

Hermione was surprised at how easily the conversation flowed. That awkward moment of silence on the train was forgotten and there were no repeats of it during the Welcoming Feast.

The last remains of dessert had magically disappeared and slowly students started leaving. Standing, Hermione brushed down her black skirt. "'Don't suppose someone could show me where to go?"

"I'll take you, Hermione! I'll take you!" Lily screeched half way across the table, wrenching herself away from a drooling James. "Get _off_ me, Potter! And make sure the Prefects get their house members to their common rooms!"

After a few moments and a couple of well-aimed hexes, Hermione found herself in the company of Lily Evans once more. Truth be told, she was rather fond of the girl and found herself sharing a few odd qualities with her. Clearly, Lily was a very studious girl, much like Hermione. Their opinions on Muggles were obviously the same. Hermione found herself prodding into Lily's past - mostly about James.

"He's a toerag," Lily said with a tone of finality. "This is the Fat Lady. This password - I got to set it, by the way - is _Potter is a prat_."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Hermione remarked, following her into the room. A sigh of relief passed over her as she realized that the only thing that had changed was the numerous posters that were plastered over the walls and photo frames that the students placed on the fire mantelpiece.

Lily waved a hand dismissively, leading Hermione towards the girls' staircase. "It's his turn next time. He'll change it too worse, I assure you."

"Will he really?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," she said bitterly, throwing a door open. "You'll be sharing a room with me, Alice and Marlene."

Hermione looked at Lily in surprise. "What? You aren't taking the Head Girl's quarters?"

She shook her head. "I declined. So did Potter, apparently." Lily outstretched her hand. "Come on then, give me a look at your subjects. Don't look at me that way, Dalkin, I'm well aware that you haven't got your class times yet. Your list, however..." She trailed off with a triumphant grin as Hermione dropped a piece of paper in her hand.

"I could have told you, you know?"

Lily shook her head. "Yes, well I wanted to look. Charms and Potions, I see. No Divination for you?"

"Pointless subject."

"Good for a laugh though," Lily murmured, skimming over the rest of the page. "Not bad, Dalkin, not bad."

"Please call me Hermione." She cringed at the use of the last name that she wasn't used to yet. She almost wished that Dumbledore had picked something that she could actually relate to. And besides, he'd said that she could choose. Apparently, time was not on her side and he had to make new arrangements. She gritted her teeth. Had she been able to pick she would have picked something that she would actually remember - perhaps the last name of one of those girls in that band that Ginny always listened to or maybe even her mother's maiden name.

"Well I better go check Potter hasn't lead all the first years to the dungeons for a joke." Lily turned to look the new student, her ponytail swaying as she tilted her head to the side. "Good night, Hermione."

* * *

AN:

So this is Kimberley writing out the note this time (actually, I'm writing this ahead of time so you get it on time... you know what I mean) just to let everyone know that Rachel *glares* botched it up. I'm actually arriving home mid-January, not late. Honestly, that girl ;) That aside, hopefully everybody enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.

& Ashyia Francis Belladonna: Thanks for pointing that out, but I'm afraid that we'll just have to claim creative license on that one ;) We are aware of the canon story, but we do feel the need to tweak little bits here and there to fit with what we want. However, thanks again and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story ;D


	6. Chapter 5

Written by RGBTheDuckie & xakemii

* * *

Hermione yanked the hairbrush through her unruly curls. Ignoring the sharp pain in her head, she repeated the process. Normal Hermione didn't care about her hair. She would have given up by now, settling for throwing it back into a ponytail. But today was her second first day at Hogwarts. She was going to make an effort.

"If you carry on like that you will go bald," Marlene commented, amused by Hermione's struggles.

Hermione simply shrugged. "In my opinion it would be an improvement from this," she said, pointing to her mob of hair.

"Why don't you let me help?" she asked, extending her hand.

Reluctantly Hermione handed over the hairbrush. Marlene motioned for her to turn, and Hermione complied.

"Are you nervous about your first day?" Marlene asked as she began her attack.

"A little bit," Hermione answered.

The truth was she was nervous for completely different reasons then her first day at Hogwarts. The previous night, after Lily had left, Hermione had quickly checked on all her potion ingredients. She had packed them away at the carefully at the bottom of her trunk. Not wanting any of her roommates to come across them by accident. There was still one thing she needed. A place to make the potion. There was no way she could do it in the dormitory. It would lead to questions. But there was one place that she thought would be available for secretive potion brewing. Moaning Myrtles Bathroom.

Hermione had fleetingly thought of it when talking to Dumbledore, thinking back to her second year when she brewed the Polyjuice Potion. Although she hadn't considered it seriously at the time, there was no reason why it couldn't be an option. Myrtle would have been dead for at least ten years by now. She certainly would have had plenty of time to mark her bathroom as her own, leaving the females at Hogwarts too terrified to use that particular lavatory.

"There, done," Marlene announced, stepping back from Hermione's newly tamed mane.

Hermione examined it in the mirror. It definitely was better. It still didn't compare to Marlene's silky blonde locks, but it was an improvement. Lily appeared behind her. The Head Girl badge pinned to the front of her robes. Her eyes, the exact shade of Harry's, gleamed as she grabbed hold of Hermione

"You excited?" she asked, squeezing her shoulders.

"I think you're more excited than I am," Hermione pointed out.

"Well, I probably am. You should try to be too. It's another year at Hogwarts. Another year of magic."

"Another year of Potter," Alice said, nudging her friend.

Lily's before grinning face fell into a pout. She grunted, obviously not liking the prospect of another year of James' never dying affections. "You officially ruined my mood," Lily said, scowling at Alice. Alice ignored the look Lily was giving her, instead smiling brightly at her.

"Come one we need to go to breakfast," Marlene said, heading towards the door. She paused halfway to it and turned to look at Lily. "Don't worry Lily, I shall protect you from the big baddie, James Potter."

Lily turned here glare on Marlene. "It's a good thing you came Hermione," Lily said. "Look what I've got to deal with, and I call these people my friends." Though she couldn't help but smile though as Alice came and slung her arm over Lily's shoulder.

"And I love you too."

- x -

Hermione had just sunk her teeth into a piece of toast when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Standing in front of her was the younger Professor McGonagall. The only difference Hermione could see was the lack of wrinkles and less greying hair.

"Miss Dalkin?" she asked. Hermione nodded, trying to quickly swallow her mouthful of food. "Here is your timetable." She handed Hermione a piece of parchment. "I'm also the Head of Gryffindor, so if you have any problems feel free to come and talk to me. My office is on the second floor."

"'Ank 'Ou," Hermione managed to say through the bread lodged in her throat.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow slightly, but said nothing. Instead she turned and returned to the front of the room. Hermione reached for her Pumpkin Juice as she coughed and spluttered. Lily gently tapped her on the back as Marlene and Alice barely contained there giggles.

"Well, that went well," she muttered bitterly when she was able to breathe again. She brushed the crumbs off her face and scowled down at the remaining food on her plate.

"First impressions aren't that important," Alice tried assured her.

"Well we have Transfiguration first, so you can win her over with your charming personality then," Lily said, looking up from the timetable she had been studying.

"What do I have after?" Hermione asked, leaning across the table to look. "Potions," she read aloud, trying not to look at the name at the top of the parchment. Dalkin. Why had Dumbledore chosen such a ghastly name?

"That means I have a free period," Alice said, grinning at her own schedule.

"You're not taking Potions then?" Hermione asked. Alice shook her head.

"Potions isn't Alice's strong point," Lily told Hermione.

"That's not fair," Alice exclaimed. "There was only that one small incident in third year."

"You singed off my eyebrows," Marlene said, pointing her fork accusingly at Alice.

"But I did a hair growth spell on them for you," Alice said. "And took you to Madame Pomfrey when we couldn't get them to stop growing."

Marlene frowned, running her fingers along her eyebrows, as if remembering the incident.

"I thought the bushy look suited you," James said, dropping down beside Lily, who had moved as close to Marlene as she could manage. "Lily, my love."

"I'm not your love," Lily told him sternly. She sighed, glancing down at her half eaten porridge. No food was worth putting up with Potter. Pushing her bowl to the side, she gave her three friends a weak smile. "I'll see you later." Turning to Hermione she added, "Hermione, I'll see you in Transfiguration. Don't get lost."

Lily left quickly after that, Marlene and Alice scuttling behind her. This left Hermione and James sitting awkwardly together. They looked at each other for a while, before Hermione broke the gaze, images of Harry flashing through her mind. Hermione stood, nodding curtly at James.

He looked up at her as she left, and then called, "Where're you going?"

"The toilet," Hermione replied shortly.

"Do you need help?" Noticing her astounded look, he added quickly, "Not _with_ the toilet, just getting there. Lily would hex me if you got lost."

"I think she'd love to hex you, without or without a reason," Hermione said, but then noticed the hurt look that passed across his face. She sighed, feeling sorry for the love struck boy. Despite the rumours, it appeared he actually cared about Lily. "I'm sorry, that was harsh," she said. "There's one on the first floor isn't there? A toilet, that is."

"There is, but from what I've heard it's haunted," he told her.

Hermione resisted the urge to grin at this information and instead raised her eyebrow in question.

"Moaning Myrtle lives there," he explained. "She's not a very happy soul, and that's putting it nicely. Best to stay away from her."

"Well could you direct me towards another one then?" Hermione asked, glancing at her watch. There was fifteen minutes until class started. That should be enough time to have a quick look at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"I'll show you," James said, shoving the last bite of toast into his mouth.

She frowned. It would have to wait till later. She looked down at her timetable. After Transfiguration she had Potions, and then a break when she could look into the bathroom situation. She looked up and forced herself to thank James, before slinging her bag over her shoulder and following him from the Great Hall. The corridors were quickly emptying - no doubt due to students rushing up to dormitories in order to get the quill they'd forgotten or the few students that arrived early to classes (on the first day, at least).

James dragged her up and down several staircases and she groaned inwardly. She'd half-hoped that he'd pull a Fred-and-George on her and just lead her through a forbidden secret pathway or something - anything quicker. She'd hate to be late for class on her first day. Especially considering the fact that Professor McGonagall must have thought her mad already.

"What floor are we on?" Hermione puffed, her annoyance getting the better of her.

"Fourth," he replied. He then stopped suddenly, almost causing her crash into his back, and waved grandly to the door they had reached. "And here is the toilet."

She looked up and sighed. "Brilliant. I now know where the boys' toilet is. Care to show me to the girls'?"

James looked at the door in astonishment. "That's odd, I could have sworn this was a girl's bathroom," he said, examining the sign.

"Hermione!" A voice called from behind them. Hermione turned to find Alice hurrying towards her. Her eyes landed on James, before darting back to Hermione.

"He was showing me the bathroom," Hermione explained. "Though he is not doing a very good job."

Alice shifted her questioning look back to James. "Why didn't you show her the one on the ground floor? Next to the Great Hall."

James opened his mouth as if to respond, but then shut it. Hermione knew of the bathroom, having been trapped in it with a raging troll. But it was obviously the first James had heard of it. He turned to Hermione, who was shooting daggers at him. "I'm guessing you don't find this funny."

Hermione shook her head and looked at her watch. "I'm going to be late," she murmured. She waved goodbye to Alice, shoot one last glare and James and quickly rushed down the stairs.

She had only flown past the first few steps when she heard James exclaim _Ow! _after the satisfying sound of Alice's palm slapping against his arm. Despite herself, Hermione grinned. Catching herself, she quickly headed down the corridor and into the Transfiguration classroom.

"Hermione! Come sit with me!"

Hermione had never been so pleased to see a redhead waving her down. She slid gratefully into the seat Lily had saved her, smiling. "Thanks."

"Marlene saved me a sit on my first day," Lily said wistfully. "Don't mention it. It's not like I don't know how you feel."

Being the sort of girl that she was, Hermione fought the urge to retort with a disagreement. No, Lily did _not _know what it was like, because as far as she knew, Lily had never traveled to the past! Shaking the thoughts away, Hermione said nothing, taking out her books and placing them on her desk in the neatest manner she could manage.

Before long, Professor McGonagall was standing in front of the class and lecturing and Hermione was feeling more at home than ever. The Marauder's sniggering in the background could almost pass as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, and though she had never spent much time with Padma Patil, Lily was frequently reminding her of the studious Ravenclaw.

"Oi! Evans!" Sirius's loud and haughty voice called from the back of the room. "Help me, will you? Prongs is next to useless."

"Ask Remus," Lily replied through clenched teeth, dedicating all her energy into transfiguring the feather before her into a couch. She turned pleadingly to Hermione. "Can you go help? Usually I'd just ignore him, but..." she trailed off, her eyes first darting towards Hermione's rather comfortable looking couch to her own scruffy, feathery one. "He'll annoy me for the rest of the class. And McGonagall's helping Diggory. And he's so stupid she'll have to take ages with him."

Hermione chuckled, ignoring the images of a broken man crying for his dead son flashing through her mind. "Oh, fine. But if they are as bad as you say..."

"They won't start anything with McGonagall, I promise."

And so Hermione stood, making her way to the back of the classroom. She noticed that all four of the Marauder's eyes were immediately on her and she fought a blush that threatened to creep up her neck. Avoiding Peter's eyes, she nodded at the boys.

"Evans sent you?" Sirius asked darkly.

Unfazed, Hermione said, "Yes, but I can go back if you like?"

Remus, who was lounging on his own couch, seemed neutral and shrugged up at her. "Good luck if you do stay. Sirius is useless when it comes to instructions, Peter's useless with his wand - both of them, and James hasn't listened to the lecture at all. You can thank Lily for that."

"Doesn't matter, Moony," Sirius snapped, glaring at his friend. Turning to Hermione, he said, "You can go back. We only called for Evans because Prongs wanted a chat. If I needed help, I would've asked him."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. She doubted that James, who hadn't gotten the book out of his bag, let alone opened it, could be any help to Sirius.

James noticed Hermione's expression and smirked slightly. He picked up his wand and aimed it at the book Hermione had clutched close to her chest. With a quick flick he transfigured the innocent hardback into a large rodent. Hermione let out a satisfying squeal as she dropped the squirming rat. As gasp escaped as she watched, horrified, as it scuttled across the floor. She quickly came to her senses and changed it back before McGonagall noticed the pandemonium it was sure to cause.

"Merlin," she murmured, as she cautiously retrieved the book. She held it in her hands, half expecting a tail to sprout from the cover.

"Always the look of surprise," James said, grinning wickedly at her.

Not knowing what to say, Hermione didn't reply. Instead she returned to her seat, her checks burning as they erupted in laughter behind her. She tried to tone out the Marauders as she slumped back into her seat.

"Why didn't you tell me James was good at Transfiguration?" she asked.

Lily looked up from her book and smiled sympathetically. "Brilliant isn't he? If he applied himself he probably could have finished N.E.W.T level years ago." Lily's face fell as she realized what she just said. Somehow she had managed to actually pay that slimy git a compliment. Hermione giggled at the look of horror Lily's face.

"Tell anyone I said that and I'll deny it," she told Hermione, dropping her head into her hands.

Hermione nodded, laughing. "You should've given me a fair warning though." She shuddered, the laughs of the four boys still echoing in her mind. "Next time you send me off to help someone, tell me if their best friend happens to be brilliant, okay?"

"Help me?" Lily said pleadingly, poking her wand at the rather tatty looking couch she'd managed to produce. "And while you may be quite good yourself, I assure you that Marlene and Alice are rubbish at Transfiguration."

The rest of the lesson went by quicker than she would've liked, and Hermione soon found herself trailing down to the Potions dungeons. The upside was that Marlene would be joining Lily and herself. The downside... well, three out of four Marauders would also be doing so.

"Please, sir," Lily said, approaching the Potions Master quickly. "Hermione Dalkin, she's new, could she join Marlene and I this lesson? Just so that she can settle in and become familiar, of course."

It was no surprise when Slughorn the Pushover relented and allowed the three girls to hover over the same cauldron as they brewed.

"What lessons do Alice take?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Last period she spent with me in Arithmancy," Marlene replied. "This period... uh, I think she might be in Muggle Studies. She wants to be an Auror... unlikely with the classes she took - shame, really. She's not half bad at dueling."

"And what about you two? What do you want to do?"

"Aurors," the two chimed in unison. "You?"

Hermione smirked. If all went well, she'd have no need for a job - not in this time, at any rate. But still, she had to reply somehow. "I was thinking of working in the Ministry." She frowned, remembering how the Ministry had influenced Percy Weasley. "But, well, you know. Seems a bit off, doesn't it?" Lowering her voice she added in a conspiring tone, "Besides, Ministry always seemed a bit corrupt to me. And what if You-Know-Who takes over that?"

Lily gaped at her. "You-Know-Who? You're thinking a bit ahead of yourself, aren't you? Murderer, yes. But do you honestly think he has enough power to take over the Ministry?"

"My father reckons so," Marlene muttered, wrenching the ladle from Lily's grasp and stirring the concoction herself. "He says that the Ministry hasn't done a good job tracking him and that they probably never will capture him when they do finally get their heads out of their arses and track him down proper."

"You really think so?" Lily seemed shocked - maybe even a little scared - at this prospect.

Marlene, however, remained oblivious to her friend's discomfort. "Oh, yeah. You know that some Pureblood families have even knocked their arranged marriages up a few weeks? By months, too! Don't really know why, though. Doesn't make a difference if you're married or not, does it?"

"Feeling of protection, maybe?" Hermione offered. "Anyone in our year got arranged marriages?"

"In our year?" Marlene stopped to think. "I'm not sure. I'll owl Dad later and see if he knows. But Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy are tying the knot soon. They were a few years above us, but from what I heard, they'd been putting off the marriage for as long as possible. Don't fancy each other, apparently."

"Don't blame her," Lily muttered. "Malfoy's a right prat."

"Oh, please, as if Black's any better!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. It was interesting to hear about the relationships nowadays. Referring to the previous subject, she said thoughtfully, "Maybe the bumped up marriages are to ensure good graces with You-Know-Who. If both families are followers... it's kind of a safety belt, isn't it?"

"Ah. Smart, aren't you?" Lily gasped. "You could be right, but I still don't - MARLENE!" she broke off with the screech. "Don't put _that_ in there! Are you insane? Focus, woman!"

"I am focusing!"

"Focus harder."

The bickering went on throughout the class, reminding Hermione of Ron and herself in earlier days. She was on the brink of taking a trip down memory lane when Slughorn waved his hand in the air, informing them to take their leave and that he would mark their potions after their departure.

Hermione trailed out of the dungeons alongside the rest of her class. Her mind wandered as she climbed up the Grand Staircase. Not concentrating on the conversation Lily and Marlene were having. As they arrived at the first floor, her eyes fell on the _Out of Order_ sign on the once ordinary bathroom. Lily noticed Hermione's hesitation and paused.

"I think I left my book back in the Dungeons," Hermione explained. "I'll catch up with you later." She turned and started back down the steps, but stopped when she was sure that Lily had carried on. Taking a deep breath, Hermione headed into Moaning Myrtle's territory.

James watched as Hermione disappeared behind the door.

"What is she doing?" he murmured to himself, bemused.

"This might seem strange, but I believe she's going to use the bathroom," Sirius said, leaning against the banister. "Wish I could see her face when she runs into Moaning Myrtle."

"But I told her about that bathroom," James explained. Why was Hermione going in there after James had warned her against it?

"Maybe she wanted to see for herself," Remus suggested. "If you really want to know, go in there and ask her."

"Yeah," James said, nodding. He started forwards, but Remus caught his arm.

"I was joking," he exclaimed. "You can't go in there, it's a girl's lavatory. She might be doing... private things in there."

"Don't worry Moony, it's nothing he hasn't seen before," Sirius said, chuckling.

James shrugged off Remus' hand. "I'll see you guys later," he said, before going through the door he had seen a bushy head vanish behind moments before.

* * *

Authors' Notes: So, pretty much we took a bomb load of time to finally get this up, but here's hoping you like it? (: School's starting up again soon and Kimberley's away in Hamilton for the next few days. BUT! We should be faster than this update! ;D And here is where we beg for reviews... ;)


	7. Chapter 6

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

* * *

He stood there and stared at her for a while. He was a bit surprised when she didn't turn at the door opening, but then again, she probably hadn't been expecting someone to walk in after her. After all, no one visited Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. James figured that he would have been fine had he been a different bathroom. In truth, he probably should've expected Myrtle to throw a fit a_s soon as he entered._

And when she did, it was not pretty. Oh, Myrtle was easy enough to handle. With a simple threat of a book through her head, she gave a cry and headed off to do whatever it was that ghosts did. Hermione, on the other hand... it would be an understatement to say that she wasn't pleased.

"I told you not to come in here," James said quickly, well aware of her fist clenching around her wand. "What are you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here?" she seethed, hiding an all too important list of ingredients behind her back. "You're the boy in the girls' bathroom! And you have the nerve to ask what _I'm_ doing here?"

"I warned you not to come here. Or aren't you afraid of ghosts?"

"I'll have you know -" Hermione cut herself off quickly. Best not to mention Volde- You-Know-Who or Fluffy. "You also told me that the boys' toilets were the girls'. Why would I believe you?"

She had a good point, but that didn't stop him from arguing. "And what? Moaning Myrtle wasn't enough to make you leave straight away? Didn't anyone ever tell you that curiosity killed the cat?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that satisfaction brought him back?" Hermione snapped back. She paused. "How do you know that Muggle saying, anyway? And why would you follow me into the bathroom - the _girls' _bathroom?"

He shrugged. "Making sure you were okay?"

"Stalking the new girl, more like."

"I'm not stalking you, I just wanted to know what you were doing," he said, the anger and exasperation showing in his voice. He took a step closer to her. "Remus was right, there's something suspicious about you. Dodging questions, buying potions ingredients, now this. Why didn't you want your friends to know? You made sure they had left before you came in here."

"I don't believe it's any of your business," she snarled, glaring at him.

It couldn't have been going worse. She had lost a place to make the potion. But that was the least of her problems with James asking questions. James couldn't find out about her being from the future. McGonagall had warned her about the dangers of time travel. This was a perfect example of it gone horribly wrong. She couldn't alter that past at all. Which meant if any of them found out, the future would be permanently changed forever. No matter how much she wanted to change it so Harry could have grown up with his parents, she couldn't do anything about it.

"Look," Hermione finally said with a sigh, breaking the tension between the two teenagers. "You've only known me a day. Stop making accusations about me."

"You say that like I'm wrong."

"You haven't said anything true, except for the fact that I've bought a few ingredients. Which, by the way, isn't against Hogwarts rules, so I don't see why you care."

"I'm Head Boy."

She stared at him. "And that gives you the right to be a stalking git, does it?"

James opened his mouth the answer, but was cut off.

"Why are you yelling?" a voice cried from behind them. "Can't I be dead in peace?"

Hermione turned to see the silvery figure of Myrtle floating toward them. She looked exactly the same, dark lanky hair and thick rimmed glasses.

"Go away Myrtle," James said, barely looking away from Hermione.

"Don't' be mean," Hermione snapped, glancing worriedly at Myrtle, afraid she might explode at James rudeness. She scowled, but to Hermione's surprise Myrtle's anger seemed to be directed at her.

"I don't need help, especially from a frizzy haired freak like you."

A pained expression passed across Hermione's face. She hid it quickly, but James didn't miss it; he felt a pang of guilt, it had been his fault. Gritting his teeth, he opened his bag and pulled out a book.

"Leave her alone," he growled. Raising his arm, he aimed at the head of the ghost. Hermione gasped, and grabbed his arm before he had a chance to throw it. But Myrtle had already seen the gesture and assumed what he had planned to do.

"Going to throw a book at me? You wouldn't be the first. Some people have even made a game out of it. Let's all throw things at Myrtle, it's okay she can't feel it, she's dead!" She turned and dove into the nearest cubical, plunging head first into the toilet. The water exploded from it, showering Hermione and James.

Hermione was less than impressed and she glared at James, automatically folding her arms over her chest, despite the thankful fact that she was wearing a jersey over the white school blouse.

"I will find out," James said, unnerved by the sudden drenching and reaching for the door. "And I'll tell everyone when I do find out what crazy stunt you're trying to pull."

She sighed. So much for the sweet, protective James that had materialized just moments ago. "I'm not doing anything wrong, Potter. But if you do insist on _stalking _me, I assure you that your darling Lily will not be in the dark."

This did the trick and a shadow of annoyance crossed his face and she knew she'd crossed the line. The thought of apologizing quickly vanished though and she glared at him as he turned his back on her and slammed the door as he left. She looked at the now closed door, her breathing slowly returning back to it's normal pace. This wasn't good, she decided, in fact, it was very, very bad.

- x -

Classes flew by after that and Hermione soon found herself sitting in the common room, forcing herself to listen to Marlene attempt to explain half of her homework to sweet Alice. How someone with the potential to be so clever was so daft at times, Hermione didn't know. But she sat on the couch with a book in her lap happily, pausing to give her tips and offer her notes to Alice occasionally.

"Hermione!" Lily burst into the common room. "Dalkin! Hermione!"

Slamming her book with a sharp intake of breathe, Hermione looked up at the fiery redhead. Had Potter grassed on her already? She didn't say a word, but instead looked expectantly up at her. There was no way she was going to say anything - not until she was sure what Lily was going on about.

"Thank Merlin you're here," Lily continued with a rush, diving onto the couch. "Hide me, please. Potter's just around the corner." She jumped off the couch, making haste towards the girls' staircase. "Fend him off with a good hex or something, will you? And tell him that I've got a date for the Hogsmeade trip - hell, tell him anything that'll get him off my back. And if he asks, I'm not in the dorms."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the disappearing girl while Marlene laughed at Hermione's shocked face. "No worries, happens everyday. You'll get used to it soon, Hermione."

Hermione looked up as the portrait door swung open to reveal James. He entered the room, eyes wide as he scanned the room for Lily. He shoulders slumped slightly as he came to the realization she wasn't there. His eyes landed momentarily on the stairs up to the girls' dormitory, but he obviously thought better of trying to face those dreaded stairs. Instead, he turned and headed towards the three girls settled in front of the fire. Hermione held her breath, not wanting a repeat of the conversation in the bathroom. But James walked straight past her, not giving her a second glance.

Alice looked up, mildly surprised to find James standing in front of her.

"Can you give this to Lily?" he asked, pulling out an envelope.

Alice eyed it suspiciously. "What's in it?" she said, not trusting the love struck teenager.

"I guess you'll have to ask her." He dropped the envelope in front of Alice and left, disappearing up his own stairs as the three girls gaped at him.

And with a flash, Marlene snatched at the envelope.

"Get off," Alice protested, hiding the envelope behind her back. Fending off her friend with her spare out she said, "He gave it to me to give to _Lily_. You aren't me and you definitely aren't Lily."

Marlene frowned. "But you know Lily won't show us what it says."

"And she'll hex you if you read it without her permission."

Her frown deepened and she laid back on the couch, glaring at Alice. "Since when did you become so damn reasonable?"

"That's not an insult," Hermione cut in. Smiling, she added, "I think it's good of you to give the letter directly to Lily as Potter asked."

"Oh, shut it," Marlene said, groaning as she watched Alice smile happily at Hermione and then skip up the stairs - letter in hand. Turning to Hermione, she said, "You realize we'll never know what that letter said now? Alice would've given in eventually."

"It's not as if you needed to know. Besides," she added tactfully. "You can easily tell. If he's asking for a date, she'll be yelling at him in no time. If it's an apology of sorts, she'll confront him about it later anyway. If he's asking to meet her, we'll either catch her sneaking out or hear her talk about how dare he ask her such a horrifying thing. You'll know either way."

Though she knew that the new girl had a point, her frown didn't disappear. Instead, she stood, glared some more, and then flounced upstairs, ready to read that damned letter - no matter what it cost her.

Marlene, closely followed by Hermione, flew into the room. She was about to demand to know the contents of the letter, but she was cut off by an unexpected annoucement.

"She won't open it," Alice announced loudly, bounding towards to Marlene.

"What!" Marlene exclaimed, glancing over at Lily. She was sitting cross legged on her bed, the still sealed envelope clutched tightly in her hands.

"Why not?" Hermione asked, sounding more concerned than the others. She saw the look on Lily's face. She looked completely torn on whether or not to open the letter. Hermione could understand this. If she opened it, she would be giving into Potter, something she had refused to do. But then again, natural curiosity must have been eating away at her.

"It's Potter! I wouldn't put it past him to have cursed it." As she spoke, she threw the letter across the room. However she quickly jumped from her bed and scrambled along the floor to retrieve it.

"And what if he didn't?" Marlene said, sitting on the ground beside her friend. "For all you know he could have out one hundred galleons in there. But you'll never know because you were too afraid to open it."

Lily frowned as she shook the envelope. "It's hardly heavy enough to hold one hundred galleons."

"That's the point," Marlene cried, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I have known you since the first day of Hogwarts, Lily Evans, and you have always been the responsible one. You play it safe with everything. How about you take a little risk for once in your life?" She sighed, and put her arm around Lily's shoulders. "It's only a bit of parchment."

"It could be a lot more," Alice said quietly. "Honestly, Lily, this could do you good."

"Puh-_leaze_,," Marlene scoffed, obviously not feeling sympathetic for her friend. "She's just scared she'll read - or see - something she doesn't like. What if it's Potter giving up? Don't look at me like that, Lily. You love it, and you know it. You love knowing he'd do anything for you."

She probably would've continued had it not been for Lily's deathly glare as she stood silently, clutching the unopened envelope to her chest as she stalked out of the room. Alice looked exasperated, and sighed.

"I thought I was meant to be daft one, Marlene. Look what you've done."

"Oh shut up," Marlene snapped. "As if I don't feel bad enough already!" In quieter voice, she said, "She's only mad 'cause it's the truth though."

Hermione, now feeling awkward crept towards the door. "I'll go check -"

"No! I'll do it." To Hermione's great surprise, Alice seemed firm in her decision. "It's only right, no offense. I've known her longer. And besides," she added with a snide look in Marlene's direction, "I'm not that one she's annoyed with at the moment. Seriously, Marlene, you better come up with one hell of an apology for this one."

With Alice gone and Marlene still fuming, Hermione took the opportunity to explore Hogwarts herself. Though she knew that the castle wouldn't be too different, she also knew that even the subtle differences could impact her - especially considering the delicate situation she'd found herself in. Naturally, the library was a must-see. Classrooms, she decided, would also be worth a visit.

She was strolling down a corridor, making her way to what she thought would be the History of Magic room, when she stopped. Back-tracking down a corridors and turning a sharp right, she stared at a wall in faint shock. What if the Room of Requirement was here? She work there and not in the bathroom. Both places, of course, were extremely risky. But she had a feeling that James Potter would be keeping a special eye on Moaning Myrtle, and the Room of Requirement would work just as well - perhaps better.

"What are you looking at the wall for?"

Hermione almost jumped a mile.

"I'm not that frightening, am I?" A cocky Sirius Black, grinned down at her, amused.

Hitting him not-so-lightly on the shoulder, she scowled. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"

"You should pay attention to your surroundings."

Touché, not that she'd say that out loud though. Apparently she wasn't alert as she had once been. She'd have to work on that if she was going to keep this charade up. Gulping, she muttered, "What do you want, anyway?"

Sirius's eyes softened. It was the look on his face that Hermione had seen very few times before - usually used when he'd been speaking about Harry when he wasn't in the room at Grimmauld place.

"I wanted to know if Evans got the envelope."

"She got it," Hermione replied, her eyes suddenly glued to the floor.

"What'd she say?"

"Don't know. I didn't see her open it." _Keep to the facts, Granger_, she chanted in her mind furiously.

He looked long and hard at her for several moments. Then he came to the conclusion: "She didn't open it at all."

"She might've by now."

"Right," Sirius said bluntly, not holding much hope. "See you later."

And with that, he turned on his heel and left her standing in the corridor, once more staring at the wall. Hermione sighed. She hadn't thought that so much drama could occur in such little time. She could only hope that it would clear up soon - preferably with Lily and James getting together. Nothing would make her happier than knowing that her visit hadn't changed a thing and that Harry would still enter the world - with parents or otherwise.

But, for the time being, she had a bigger problem to worry about. Getting home.

Hermione glanced down the corridor, not wanting anyone else to catch her staring at the wall. When she was mildly satisfied that no one was coming, she planted herself firmly in front of the wall. From what she knew, the room appeared for people who were in need of it. There was no doubt about the fact she needed the room, yet no door had appeared.

Closing her eyes, Hermione began chanting to herself:

_I need a room to brew a potion._

A quick peak showed no door.

_I need a room to brew a potion. _

_I need a room to brew a potion._

_I need a room to brew a potion._

Hermione opened her eyes and was thoroughly disappointed to see the plain surface staring back at her. Remembering what Harry had told her, Hermione started pacing infront of the door.

_I need a room to brew a potion._

_I need a room to brew a potion. _

_I need a room to brew a potion. _

Agitation crept over Hermione as she saw still no entrance to the place she needed so badly. She slammed her fist against the wall. The pain the shot up her hand only worsened her anger.

"I need a room to brew a potion!" she yelled. Her voice echoed around the lonely hallway as she slumped to the ground in defeat. Her head fell against the wall. She stayed like this for a moment, before a sudden realization hit her. Eyes widening, her hands flew in front of her. A grin formed as her fingers run along the smooth wooden surface.

Who said yelling got you nowhere?

* * *

Authors' Note: We are sorry about the wait, but I'm sure that you will have heard about the situation in New Zealand lately. Getting the refinements and such just weren't a happening thing - sorry.


	8. Chapter 7

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii. (:

* * *

"Hermione, this is bad."

Looking quite unimpressed, Hermione tore herself away from her Charms essay and gave Alice her attention.

"Really, really bad."

"It's not that bad." Hermione tried to console the girl, failing miserably.

"But Sirius knows!" Alice whined, her hands clawing at her hair. "And if Sirius knows, then James knows! And if James knows, he'll kill me! Do you have _any idea _how good that boy is with hexes? And Merlin, what if he transfigures my head into something disgusting? Like a leech! Or a Quaffle. Or -"

"He won't touch you."

"Yes he will - in horrible, painful ways." Alice hugged her knees to her chest. Her eyes were wide with fear.

Hermione bit her lip, trying to stifle the laughter that was threatening to escape. She patted Alice on the shoulder, trying to comfort the melodramatic girl. "I promise I won't let him hurt you," Hermione said, forcing a serious tone to her voice.

Alice sighed. "Thank you. You know, I'd usually be having this sort of conversation with Marlene."

"Oh, yes," Hermione said, finally gaining genuine interest and pushing her quill to the side. "Has she apologized yet? I haven't even _seen _Lily since breakfast. And I've got Potions with the two of them after lunch."

"I don't envy you. They hardly argue, really. It's scary when they do."

Hermione gave a withering smile as she placed her Potions book in her satchel. "I suppose I'm going to find out firsthand what you mean by that, aren't I?"

Although Hermione had be joking at the time, she hadn't been far wrong. As soon as she entered the dungeons, numerous sets of unwelcoming eyes fell on her. First, to her surprise, were the eyes of Sirius Black and James Potter. Obviously James had been informed of his latest failure. She felt herself go bright red as she made her towards the bench where Marlene and Lily were standing. She wasn't shocked, however, to see that there was a large, awkward space between the two girls.

"Dalkin!"

She cringed, unsure of whether the idea of slotting herself between two catty girls was scarier than actually being talked to by Sirius Black. She had little choice in the matter though, and after growing tired of hearing the chanting of her name from the back of the classroom, she headed there herself.

"What are you doing in class so early?" Sirius asked smoothly. "You've got at least eight minutes."

"Six, actually. I could ask you the same question."

"I always come to Potions early," he replied. "I can't ask the prettiest girl in class to be my partner if I arrive late, can I? Easier to snag 'em as they come through the door."

The wink he sent her almost had her in tears. Nonetheless, she managed to choke out a sarcastic, "Charming."

"So you'll be mine then?"

"What about me, twat?" James interrupted, smacking his friend upside his head. "Plan on leaving me without a partner or something?"

Sirius shrugged, smirking in Hermione's direction and then spontaneously leaping over the bench in order to grab her shoulders and hide himself behind her. "Spend today with Moony, mate. He does better than me anyway."

James grunted, which Sirius took to mean as yes.

Sirius steered a somewhat reluctant Hermione towards and empty bench. Hermione glared up at him. She had been hoping to avoid all Marauders for the rest of her time in the past. So far she wasn't doing a very good job. Realising she didn't have any alternative, Hermione carefully placed her bag down and began setting up.

Hermione would have been quite happy ignoring Sirius for the entire lesson. But as she was organizing her cauldron, Sirius made it quite clear that avoiding conversation wasn't going to be possible.

"Dalkin," Sirius said, leaning casually back on his stool. "I have a proposition for you."

Hermione stared at him. "I'm not doing your homework for you," she replied.

Sirius bought a hand to his chest, a mock expression of hurt on his face.

"You wound me Hermione," he said. "I don't need your help with homework. I need your help with something way more important." He gestured behind him, where James was sitting by himself.

"James?" Hermione whispered, aware of how close he was sitting. She leaned in closer to Sirius. "Let me guess, you're secretly in love with him and want my help to express your true feelings?" Hermione watched in amusement as Sirius eyes widened, then narrowed to a harsh glare.

"No," he hissed at Hermione. "I want your help to get him together with Lily."

"I can't Lily open the letter if she doesn't want to. I only met her two days ago."

"No one said it was a letter."

She raised an eyebrow. "I can't make Lily do anything she doesn't want to do. I don't know her nearly well enough to manipulate her emotions or to trick her into giving James a try. And I certainly don't know her well enough for her to actually value my opinion should I ask her to even consider him. I'm afraid, Black, that I am of no use to you."

With a bit of luck, she'd hoped that her argument was convincing enough to have him drop the idea. It wasn't as if though she didn't want the two to get together - nothing would make her more proud than to see the moment herself. She just had the other things to focus on - one other thing to focus on.

Sirius, however, was blissfully unaware of this certain potion and as it turned out, was a rather stubborn teenager.

"Alice seems to like you well enough."

"She likes me just as much as she likes you," Hermione replied, thinking back to the few times that Alice had stuck up for the Marauders. "Probably trusts you a handful more, too. She's known you longer, after all."

"What if I told you Remus would help us?" He was getting desperate, it was clear. "You know Remus better than you know me. He says he had a good chat to you in the bookshop. You like Remus, don't you?"

"Remus... Lupin?" she said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "He's the smart one, isn't he?"

Sirius chuckled at this description. "Yeah, you could say so. Stickler for the rules too. It was his idea to ask you to help us. Peter will do his part too - mostly with distracting James, I reckon. He's not stealthy at all, but he's a damn good distraction when you need one."

"I don't need to know the details of your plan," Hermione bit out. "I can't and won't help you."

"But -"

"Shush," she cut off quickly, nodding in the direction of Professor Slughorn who had just entered. "You wanted to be my partner, so you _will _listen. I refuse to fail Potions because of you distracting me with your meddling scheme."

Sirius sighed. He hadn't expected it to be this hard to convince Hermione to help. He zoned out of Slughorns lecture, knowing that Hermione would be listening intently. He would be able to rely on her to do the work. He glanced in her direction and wasn't surprised to see her scribbling down notes.

Sirius realised that he had gone about it the wrong way. She didn't seem the type that cared about others love lives, or even her own for that matter. But he knew of another way - one that would be far more effective.

Slughorn had finished rambling and instructions had magically appeared on the board. Sirius watched as Hermione began preparing ingredients. She obviously didn't need, or want, any help from Sirius. She went on, pretending he wasn't sitting mere inches away from her.

"You know," Sirius whispered, leaning in closer to Hermione. "If James was more successful with Lily, he might not see the need to go digging into your past. He's really interested in you, you know? Never shuts up about how there's something _different_ about you. He's dead keen to find out what, exactly, is different about you, Dalkin."

Hermione visibly tensed at his words. Her hand, which had been chopping, had frozen mid-air. She turned slightly, looking Sirius in the eye. Sirius, whose expression that always looked close to laughter, now looked sombre.

"And if you help me out with this, I might feel slightly friendlier towards you and friends never go snooping," Sirius continued.

"Are you blackmailing me?" Hermione asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Not at all," Sirius said with a gasp. "I'm just saying that if you help me and Remus, James will be preoccupied - won't care about you at all. And I certainly won't be reminding him or helping him with the mystery that is Hermione Dalkin."

"The mystery that is Hermione Dalkin," she repeated weakly.

He nodded with a wink. "And you know, he's my best mate. Wouldn't do a thing without me, even if he does find some time to think about you in his Lily-filled brain."

"And if I help you, you won't help him?" Hermione asked in clarification, trying to buy herself some time to think. When Sirius nodded at her, she groaned inwardly. "Fine! Fine, Black." Keeping a wary eye on Slughorn, she discreetly tapped her wand in her robes. Lowering her voice she added, "But if I even so much as suspect that you're snooping, I know some _very_ clever hexes."

The discreetness that she had originally been aiming for was out the window now. She had something to hide - and they knew it. Of course, she'd known that she wouldn't be able to keep it up for too long.

"That includes the girls, by the way," Hermione said, hurriedly continuing with the potion as she spoke. "If you give them any reason to ask me anything, I'll -"

"Got it!" Sirius interrupted, not wanting to hear her plan of revenge in great detail. He held out his hand to her. "You help us, we don't breathe a word about you. Deal?"

_Completely mental. Insane. Bad idea! _

Despite the messages her brain was screaming at her, Hermione had no choice but to gulp and let her hand be enveloped by his and shaken up and down vigorously.

"Deal."

"Now that wasn't that hard was it?" Sirius said, grinning at her. "Now, do you have any idea what we are supposed to be doing?"

Hermione gave Sirius instructions to do the simplest task she could find, before turning back to the ingredients she had previously abandoned. She picked up the knife and began methodically slicing. Somehow she had managed to get herself into this situation. It was far beyond ideal. The number one rule of time travel: _Don't be seen_. She had horrendously screwed that one up. Now she had the impossible job of making sure nothing in the past was changed. Her simply being there could possibly have ruined the future.

Hermione glanced back at James. He appeared to be leaving all the work to Remus. His attention was captivated by the fiery red head sitting two rows in front of him. Momentarily, Hermione wondered if Lily had ever noticed the way James looked at her. While at Hogwarts, Hermione had seen a lot of supposedly in love couples, but she'd never quite seen someone look at another person that way before. James looked completely devoted - hopelessly in love. Even while Lily was hunched over a steaming cauldron, James was completely captivated by her. But underneath, Hermione sensed pain. He truly cared about her and she had shot him down numerous times - and it hurt.

Hermione sighed and turned back to the table. _Maybe helping Sirius won't be that bad_.

Then she inwardly groaned, not quite believing she had actually thought that.

"You see it too," Sirius observed, a smirk wide on his face.

She blushed in return, not wanting to admit that she had. That would involve admitting that Sirius, of all people, was right.

"He seems smitten," Hermione said simply. "I'd be a bit unnerved if I were her. Has he ever stalked her, by any chance?"

"Of course he has," he replied. "Numerous times." Sirius straightened himself as Slughorn began to signal for the end of class. "Be in the common room after dinner. Remus will meet you there."

"Just Remus?"

The cocky look he gave her was enough to make her want to take the words make straight away. And after he chirped, "Unless you'd rather rumours between us," she _definitely_ felt like hitting him.

Hermione decided against telling Alice of her plans for the evening. Marlene and Lily were out of the question, of course. Marlene and Lily were managing to make civil conversation by the time the day ended. As they walked back to the common room after dinner Hermione thought she even saw Lily smile slightly. But despite this, the tension in the air had not risen.

"I'll be in the dorm," Marlene remarked loudly with a pointed glare in Lily's direction.

Lily hesitated before saying, "I'll see you lot later." She frowned, adding, "Got some homework to catch up on. In the library, if you need me."

Hermione was relieved. She knew it was horrible, but the two arguing did do wonders for her. It meant that both would almost always be where they said they'd be, and Alice, when she wasn't hanging off Frank's arm, would be with which ever one had managed to gain her sympathies. For Hermione, all this meant was that she would be alone. Well, if you counted being with Remus and Black as alone, that is.

She watched Marlene trail upstairs as she sat down in one of the crimson couches. It was a pleasant surprise to find that she wasn't waiting for long when Remus settled beside her, casually asking for a game of chess.

"Chess? Remus, shouldn't we -" She was cut of by his glare. When he gave her a subtle nod, she slowly began to nod as well, allowing him to pull her off of the couch and drag her to where he'd set out a chess board earlier.

They played for a few minutes - Remus already comfortably beating Hermione.

"Let's go."

She jumped at the sudden suggestion, almost knocking over the table, much to the pieces despair. She hurried after him as he briskly walked away from her, only turning to face her when she lunged at his arm, pulling him back with an enraged look on her face.

"Remus!" she snapped. "What, exactly, are you doing? Believe it or not, I have better things to do."

"Don't worry, Sirius organised a place for us to meet. He told me to meet him there at exactly eight thirty." Remus tried to carry on walking, attempting to drag Hermione along behind him. Hermione, however, dug her heels into the ground.

"The fact that you just said _Sirius _organised it makes me very worried," Hermione hissed.

Remus gave her a exasperated look. "Come on," he urged. "Sirius knows this school better then practically anyone."

Hermione reluctantly let herself be pulled from the common room. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione noticed Alice looking at her from her spot next to Frank. Alice's eyes widened and she raised an eyebrow, questioning Hermione. It didn't look good - Hermione leaving the common room late at night with one of the practically taboo Marauders.

"Give me a minute with Alice, will you?"

Glancing down at his watch, Remus shook his head and muttered, "No time." Even so, he waved at the girl in the corner and gave Frank a nod before pulling Hermione out of the portrait and into the corridor.

"Remus!" Hermione exclaimed.

He turned to face her sharply - the look on his face unkind and not at all like the one that Hermione was used to seeing on him.

"Do you want to get caught?"

"Well, no, but -"

"In here."

She didn't have time to protest before she was thrown into an empty classroom. Well, almost empty. Sirius was sitting behind the front desk, grinning cockily at the two as they entered, one hand raised in greeting. Remus entered immediately, sitting on a desk himself. Hermione, on the other hand, stood by the door, only stepping in when Sirius said loudly, "You coming in or not, Dalkin?"

Although every vibe in her body screamed at her not to take a single step, she did.

"Good," Sirius said, a smile that could only be described as evil taking over his face. "Let's get started then."

* * *

Authors' Notes:

Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy it. Reviews are loved :)


	9. Chapter 8

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

* * *

Every single plan that Sirius and Remus (well, Sirius in particular) had come up with was, in Hermione's opinion, absolutely ridiculous. And while she'd admit that Sirius was somewhat attractive, she really couldn't understand why on earth any girl, self-respecting or otherwise, would fall for his horrible lines. Did he really think that if James waltzed up to Lily and said, "Hey, do you know the Petrificus Totalus spell? Because you make me stiff", that she wouldn't hex him into oblivion?

"It worked for me," Sirius had groaned.

Hermione, in reply, had raised her eyebrows. "Tell me, Black, how many pick-up lines like that, exactly, has Potter already tried to use on Lily? And how many have worked?"

Unfortunately for her, the night went from her wanting to bang her head against a wall to her feeling the undying need to smash Lily and Marlene's heads together. Alice was obviously used to such petty fights and after a well-planned evening with Frank had disappeared behind her curtains claiming that she was "wiped out". And while the other two girls were continuing to speak somewhat politely to each other, the tension in the room could be cut with knife. And it was driving Hermione bonkers.

"Alice?" she whispered, pulling the curtains open and crawling onto the other girl's bed, ignoring her look of surprise. Pulling her jacket around herself and casting a quick Silencing Spell, Hermione asked quietly, "How long will they keep this up?"

"As long as it takes for Lily to open the envelope."

"Does it matter that much?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Only because they both want to be right. You see, I... I don't care if I'm smart or not. Lily and Marlene - they've been battling each other since First Year. Lily will open the envelope to prove that's it's just another of James's feeble attempts to woo her. And then, if it is like Lily says, Marlene will laugh it off. And if Marlene is right in saying that it contains something sentimental... well..." She finished with a shrug. "That's what usually happens, anyway."

"Oh."

"And no," Alice said sharply. "Before you ask, I don't know whether Lily fancies him or not. All I know is that James would give the world for her." She kicked the covers off of her, dragging Hermione up with her. Alice opened her curtains and gestured for Hermione to leave. Her eyes softened slightly. "Why are you so curious? I like you, Hermione, but I'd advise that you stay out of this one."

"Alice?" Hermione stared incredulously at her.

The girl sighed. "You know I don't mean it like that. Get some sleep. Good night Marlene, Lily."

"G' night, Alice," the two chorused, scowling slightly after realizing they'd spoke in unison.

Hermione slipped back into her own bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin. How did things get so out of hand? Somehow she had started to get attached. Attached to the people who were going to be dead in less than ten years time. This was great.

- x -

Even in the first week, teachers were piling on the homework. On the Saturday afternoon Hermione had gotten sick of the noise in the common room. Others may have been content leaving their homework to the last minute, but not her. Bundling up her books she shoved them into her bag. She waved goodbye to Marlene and headed off the library.

Hermione nearly managed to get all the way to the library without incident. But just as she rounded the corner she found herself face to face with Sirius Black.

"Hello Dalkin," he said, smiling widely at her.

"Hello," Hermione said cautiously. She tried to slyly maneuver herself around him. However he quickly caught her arm.

"We need to arrange another meeting. We still haven't settled on a plan."

"Of course we couldn't settle on a plan when all the ones you came up with were completely idiotic."

"I didn't exactly see you coming up with any amazing schemes," Sirius said stubbornly.

"That is because I, unlike you, don't really care about James's love life," Hermione said. She once again tried to sidle past Sirius, but he stepped in front of her.

"You should start to care slightly more if you want to keep your secret safe."

Hermione knew for certain that Sirius had no idea what her secret was. Yet as he said it her heart dropped slightly. She had no choice and hurriedly continued with the conversation that Sirius wanted: "That letter James sent Lily, do you have any idea what's in it?"

"Not a clue Prongs wouldn't tell us. Why don't you ask Lily? She has opened it hasn't she?"

Hermione shook her head.

"You should try and convince her too. Whatever it was, must be pretty serious if Prongs wouldn't tell us."

Hermione was slightly concerned that she actually agreed with Sirius on this one. "I'll try."

The library was nearly empty when Hermione entered. Only the occasional person was sitting at desks or browsing the shelves. Being the first weekend, most people weren't behind in homework yet and were choosing to ignore it. Settled in a desk in the corner, Hermione spotted Lily. She was hunched over parchment writing, books lying open around her.

Hermione faltered. She was unsure if she should go and talk to her. The past week had been somewhat awkward. From an outsiders perspective, Lily and Marlene appeared to be back to normal, but from where Hermione stood she knew that they weren't. They also would never be until Lily opened the letter.

Hermione made the decision and walked over to Lily. Lily glanced up, looking shocked to see Hermione.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" Hermione asked.

"No, not at all," Lily said, nodding to the chair opposite her. Hermione sat down, dropping her bag down next to her.

"How's your homework going?" Hermione asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"It's fine. I've nearly finished that essay Professor Slughorn set us." Lily paused. Her hand froze above her parchment. "Why don't you just ask? I know you want to."

"Ask what?" Hermione said, trying to appear oblivious.

"About the letter Potter sent."

"I wasn't going to mention it."

Lily laughed and waved her quill at Hermione. "Of course you were. I would if I was you."

"Have you opened it yet?"

Lily shook her head. She reached into her bag and pulled out the slightly crumpled letter. On the side James had neatly printed her name. "Perhaps Marlene is right. Maybe I am scared of opening it."

"No shame in fear," Hermione said gently. She placed her hands over Lily's, pressing the envelope flat against the table. "You don't have to open it, Lily. But what are you really afraid of? It's not going to bite you. And besides, you don't fancy him anyway." She said the last part flippantly - almost testing how Lily would react. The war had sharpened Hermione's ears considerably and the shuffling and shallow breathing a few metres away didn't escape her.

"Well, I sure as hell don't want him to give up on me!"

"Excuse me?"

Lily sighed. "Well, I just... I've been warming up to him a bit. I don't fancy him, mind you."

"Oh, he's not that bad."

"You date him then," Lily teased.

Hermione laughed. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of the joy."

"I don't think you'll have to worry _too_ much about that," she joked, her face straight. "I know that it'll be very hard for me at first, but really, Hermione, he's all yours."

"But I don't want him," Hermione said. "You do."

"No I don't," Lily said instinctively. She paused. "Well, maybe I do." As if she had just caught the words coming out of her mouth, she gasped. "Oh Merlin, Hermione, I don't know."

Distressed, she slumped down into her seat. "There is this boy in our year in Slytherin, Severus. James pulled these really cruel pranks on him. No matter how nice James is to me, no matter what lengths he goes to or romantic gestures he makes, I can't stop thinking about what he did to him."

"Severus Snape?" Hermione blurted before she could help himself.

"Yeah, him. I suppose you've seen him in Potions, haven't you? He's only a Half-Blood himself, but he's just like the rest of those Slytherins now." Lily twirled a piece of her hair with a sigh. "Reckons he's above Mudbloods like me."

The word made her flinch and the rustling from nearby was beginning to make her feel edgy. Hurriedly, Hermione stood, brushing down her skirt.

"I have to go. Think about the envelope though, won't you?"

"I don't think I'll be able to get it off my mind. See you in the dorm."

With that, Hermione scurried out of the library. She walked down the corridor, trying to act as normally as possible, before turning sharply and entering the only convenient room possible - a broom cupboard. Only leaving the door open for a few moments, it was soon slammed angrily.

"What was that for, Dalkin?" Sirius yelped, pealing the cloak from his body and rubbing his bottom. "Could've given me a few more seconds to get it 'ere, eh?"

"I did warn you about using that cloak to spy on me. Honestly! Are you going to listen in on every single conversation I happen to have with Lily?"

She was frustrated - that much was clear. Although she tried to make it sound as if she was annoyed that he was eavesdropping, she was more concerned that he would begin to follow her _wherever _she went. If he did take to that habit, she'd never finish (or even really begin) her potion. Although, she wasn't above hexing him if need be.

"Wasn't that part of the plan?"

"The plan!" Hermione exclaimed. "What plan, Black? All the ones you came up with were rubbish, to be quite frank. Everything Remus said would be impossible to carry out. And my idea, which was by far the best, by the way, you both shot down."

"They've had six years to work it out themselves. If we just leave them to talk, like you suggested, we'd get nowhere," he argued. "I hate to say it, but we need you. Keep talking to Evans like you were just then."

By now, Sirius had thrown the cloak back over his body and was making his way out of the cramped space, not caring as he knocked over many buckets as he left.

"I will be watching."

The words echoed in Hermione's ears and in a blind rage she leapt forward, hoping to catch even just the corner of that damned cloak. She was a fraction late though and instead ended up spiraling at top speed towards the hard floor, landing with a "Ooph!" as her body slammed against it.

Hermione scrambled up off the floor. Fuming, she grabbed her bag and left the cupboard, slamming the door behind her. What girls saw in Sirius Black was beyond Hermione's comprehension. At that moment all she saw was a slimy git who was trying to make her life as difficult as possible.

Realizing she had done none of her homework, Hermione set off to one room she knew she could find complete peace and quiet. The Room of Requirement. As far as she knew the devious Marauders never discovered it. So for now her room was safe. Hermione had only managed to go back to the room once since she found it. With great difficulty she had managed to transfer all the potions ingredients she had bought. All though it was all quite useless now, the room she had acquired was perfectly equipped.

It was much easier to find the room after the first time. The door practically appeared before her. Quickly, she checked that there no one was passing that could see her. It was rather pointless really. Rare was it to run into anyone here. Nonetheless Sirius had found her there before, so it clearly wasn't impossible.

Hermione dumped her bag on the table, momentarily pushing the homework from her mind. She wandered over to one of the shelves. All the shelves were filled with various potion ingredients. That was except for one, the one which she happened to be standing in front of, which was filled with books. After scanning the spins Hermione concluded that they were all on Potions.

Eventually Hermione finally found the book she needed. The Encyclopedia of Potions Ingredients. With great effort, she pulled it out. Settling down at the table, Hermione opened the book. She had planned to look up the ingredient Ron had added back in the joke shop. But she had found her memory of the ingredient was vague. With not much hope, Hermione started to flick through the book.

In reality she had no other ideas of where to start. Making a potion to take someone back in time was one thing. It had already been done before, even if it was in a completely different way. But even in the Wizarding world, no one had ever managed to travel forwards in time. Technically it should be impossible, because the future had yet to happen. But as she was stuck in the past Hermione tried not to think about the technicalities.

"I think," Hermione said to herself, throwing in a few ingredients into the cauldron, "that everything really was okay until Ron dropped in that eel eye. So if I can get to that point of the potion..."

She worked for hours until it was curfew. In truth, she wasn't looking forward to returning to her room. Marlene was sure to be there. As was Alice. And Lily.

But there was nothing she could do about that, was there? And besides, even those three were better than the Marauders.

- x -

"Oi, Hermione!" Marlene almost knocked her over as she greeted Hermione with a tackle. "I heard that _you _are the reason that my Lily dearest has agreed to open the letter."

"The letter?" Hermione repeated incredulously. Pushing the over-excited teenager away from her, she looked over to where Lily was perched on the floor. "You're actually going to open it?"

"Well yes! That's what you said I should do!"

Hermione scuttled down to sit next to the girl and Marlene followed soon afterwards. Even Alice, who had been diligently watching the exchange from her bed flopped down to face the three. All eyes were on Lily and her trembling fingers.

"Come on then," Marlene said, rushing her. "Open it."


	10. Chapter 9

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

* * *

"That's rather pathetic," Marlene said loudly, finishing the sentence with a loud scoff. "Cliché and boring. I thought even Potter could do better than that."

"It's very sweet. Frank gave me a rose once, you know? I thought it was lovely."

Lily remained silent as Marlene rolled her eyes and said, "But a lily for our Lily? Face it, Alice. If damned Potter hadn't chased off every boy that's ever fancied her, Lily would have buckets full of flowers just like this one."

Alice gave a defeated sigh and instead turned her attention the white lily, floating in the centre of the group. It was just that – a lily. A simple, plain, and as Marlene had said, _cliché_ white lily. It was pretty enough, although all lilies were, so it was a small consolation.

Lily wrung her hands in her lap, confused eyes staring at the flower before her.

"Is it bad that I expected something more?" she murmured. "Something…"

"…that would make you love him," Marlene finished. "Not some pathetic flower that's bound to die in a few days – probably a few hours, knowing him."

The flower continued to hover in the air and while Marlene continued to butcher the boy, Lily and Hermione kept their eyes peeled. Lily couldn't help but stare. She wanted something fantastic; she'd wanted something perfect. Anything all that would convince her that all his pitiful promises over the years would be kept and his claims of love were true – that's all she wanted. Hermione, on the other hand, was completely out of her element. From the way Sirius had pleaded her to make sure that Lily opened envelope, she too had expected something outlandish that would change the redhead's opinion of James Potter once and for all. A lily… it just didn't cut it.

"Well, if that's it, I'm go-"

"Shut up, Marlene!" Lily interrupted, her eyes growing wide as the flower in the centre of the group dulled and withered. "It's… it's dying…"

She'd spoken too soon though. After each grey petal had fallen to ground, the circular middle glowed a brilliant gold. Finally, it shifted into the familiar shape of parchment, although still keeping its golden colour, and floated delicately to the ground. Hurriedly, Lily snapped up the paper, her eyes glossing over the inked writing before reading allowed to her friends:

"_Lily, do you remember the ball that my parents had in Fifth year that I invited you to? You avoided me the whole time and I waited all night to grab just one dance with you. Just so you know, that dance was fantastic – even if you wouldn't look me in the eyes for the three seconds that it lasted._

_See, Lily, I was willing to wait a night for three seconds. But it's been six years now and I've come to terms with you – you not caring about me, that is._

_I stopped hexing Snape for you. Even stopped calling him that nic-name, even though Sirius thought I was barking to stop considering how 'genius' it was – his words, not mine. The point is, Lily, I tried for you. And if you're willing to give me a chance, you'll meet at the Astronomy Tower after dinner on Sunday._

_If not… well, I guess I'm giving up. I love you, Lily, I always have. But I can't give you anything more than I have_."

She finished the letter with a strangled gasp.

"I remember that party," Alice said with a smile on her face. With a thoughtful look, she added, "He's right though. You wouldn't even give him the time of day. And when you did let him dance with you, you pushed him off a few moments later saying that you need to the toilet, right?"

"Yeah, Alice. She remembers."

Lily sat in silence, staring with wide eyes at the parchment that had fallen out of her hands and into her lap. Her breathing was shallow and it was easy to see the clogs in her brain were whirring at the speed of light.

"Good enough for you, then?" Marlene asked, not unkindly. "Has he finally done the impossible and won your heart?"

"I… he…"

"Are you going to go?" Hermione exclaimed, voicing the question that had been ringing in all of the girls' ears. She was surprised when her voice came out as an excited, high-pitched squeal. It resembled Lavender's awful screeching far too much for her liking, but she wasn't about to over-analyse her voice. There were more important issues on hand. "It's Friday. You've only got two days to figure it out."

"I don't need two days," she replied slowly, but deliberately. "I'm not going."

"You're what?" Marlene yelled, just as Alice shouted, "You're bloody mental!"

"I'm not going. I don't have to and I won't."

"You're _such_ an idiot, Lily! You kept him on his toes for six bloody years and you're not even going to give him a chance?" Alice said incredulously. "I knew you were a bitch sometimes, but this is just-"

"Hey! She has a choice. She doesn't have to see him!"

The look on Alice's was thunderous and with an aggravated scream, she rose and escaped behind her bed hangings for the second time that night, without so much a second glance at her friends.

_She really is an interesting character_, Hermione thought to herself, before coming to the awful realisation that Sirius and Remus would expect her to report the new development to them immediately. And so, she stood, wrapping her dressing gown around her pyjamas and then began to make her way to the door.

"Why haven't you said anything?" Lily asked, stopping Hermione in her tracks. "You told me to open the letter. Why haven't you said anything?"

"I've only been here two weeks," Hermione replied quietly. "I asked you to open the letter because it seemed rude not to open it. Whether you meet Potter after dinner on Sunday has nothing to do with me."

Here she was – trying desperately to distance herself from the situation all the while she was trying to escape to tell two teenagers the fresh gossip _about_ the situation. Never in her life had she felt so caught in the grapevine, although she imagined that this was what Rita Skeeter had felt like on a daily basis. No wonder why that woman was so cold-hearted and horrid.

Without waiting for a reply, Hermione fled out of the room and down the stairs into the common room. She had thought that she'd have to sneak up stairs and wake one the two – probably Remus – and although she hadn't thought that far ahead, she'd figured it wouldn't be any different from waking Ron and Harry as she'd done many times before.

Needless to say, she was surprised to find that no matter how many times she jumped on the boy's bunk, they wouldn't wake – the only reason for this being that Remus simply wasn't there. Hesitantly, she tried what she hoped was Sirius's bed. The books by the bed had been a dead giveaway for Remus, but the other three bunks looked near identical to Hermione and in the end, she had opted for the one that smelt ever so slightly of dog. Her detective skills were in vain though, and she found that bed empty too.

"Lumos," she whispered, pointing her wand at each of the four beds in turn. "They're empty. Why are they empty? Unless…" she trailed off, her eyes landing on an open window in the corner of the room. In the middle of the glass, the moon, shining in its full glory, gleamed back at her.

With shaking legs, Hermione collapsed into the bed nearest her. "I ought to make him Wolfsbane for next time, but it hasn't been invented yet, has it? I could stop his pain every month that I'm here… but I can't. I just can't."

She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tightly. _It's not my fault, it's not my fault_, she chanted to herself. But as she slipped away into a deep sleep, she could've sworn that she could hear the pained cry of a wolf echoing throughout the school grounds.

- x -

"What the hell are you doing up here?"

Hermione rolled over with a groan, rubbing her aching back as she struggled to open her eyes.

"Ha- Potter? James Potter?" Hermione questioned. Coming to her senses, she leapt to her feet. "Merlin, I'm sorry. I was just… just…" she looked around frantically, breathing a sigh of relief when the other three Marauders came into the room behind him, Remus limping between the two.

"Dalkin? Come for a chat, have you?"

"Well, yes. About our… tutoring business. But I'll see you about it later, Black."

She hurried out of the dorm, only catching James's astonished: "Tutoring? What the hell was she going on about?"

Sirius caught her later that day, just as she'd assumed he would. Although she'd been planning to use the full weekend to work on her potion, it seemed in vain if Sirius and his big nose were going to be snooping around in her business.

It was after lunch when he'd grabbed her arm and dragged her into an empty broom closet.

"That hurts, you know?" she snapped, pulling away from him angrily.

"She opened it, didn't she?"

Hermione looked away. "Yes. She opened it."

Noting her now awkward frame, Sirius ran his fingers through his hair. "I take it he'll be disappointed on Sunday night, then?"

"Sorry. I really don't think she'll change her mind."

"Don't say sorry if you don't mean it, Dalkin." Sirius opened the door, ushering her out. "Go on. Scat."

"Tonight after dinner," she insisted. "Meet me in the library. Meanwhile, I'll try to talk Lily around." Before darting down the corridor, she looked over her shoulder and said to the surprised teenager: "And give my regards to Remus. I doubt he'll be feeling up to join us tonight."

It didn't take her long to find Lily. She was sprawled out on her bed, the weekend homework in a neat pile beside her. Hermione was pleasantly surprised to find that she was alone and, with her goal in mind, struck up conversation with the girl quickly.

"I thought you would've said yes, to be honest."

"For the new girl, you're extremely nosy," Lily said, not looking up from her work. After several moments of silence, she sighed and put her quill down, hesitantly peering up at Hermione, who was still standing in the doorway. "Come on in, for Merlin's sake. You might be new, but it's your room too."

She took the invite graciously, seating herself on the floor beside Lily's bed.

"You aren't going to leave me alone till you get what you want, are you?" the red-head asked, exasperated. At Hermione's nod, she added, "I'm not a mind-reader. And although I've got a pretty good idea what you're going to ask, I'd rather that you did actually do that – ask, I mean."

"Why won't you give Potter a chance? You did say you were warming up to him."

"Well, yes," Lily admitted. "But weren't you listening when I told you about Severus? He was my first friend, you know. We were close… I hated James for tormenting him."

"I don't understand," Hermione said slowly, "how Severus Snape stands in between you and Potter. It's all in the past now." More for herself than for Lily, she said quietly, "You can't change the past."

"James bullied him mercilessly, Hermione. You won't understand because you weren't here, but it was awful." Memories were flickering in Lily's eyes now and she continued, "If James hadn't done all those awful things… well, Sev and I would probably still be friends. Maybe more."

Stifling a gasp to hide her shock, Hermione began to pace around the room, processing the new information. She wasn't sure she understood completely, but from what she gathered, Lily was willing to give James a chance… it was just she needed to cut ties with a certain Slytherin first.

"Someone told me that you were extraordinary," Hermione began, remembering the many tales Harry had told her of his private sessions with Professor Lupin. "They said that you had a way of seeing beauty in others, especially when they couldn't see beauty in themselves. Clearly, you can do this with Snape. Why not with Potter?"

If anything, it threw Lily for a spin of shock and confusion. She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it and kept silent as she brooded on what she'd just been told.

"They told me you were kind," Hermione said, deciding that at this point, it was all or nothing. "I think you are kind, Lily. Which is why it's so difficult to understand why you seem so against Potter."

It was with these words that Lily finally snapped. "Alright, alright. You've made your point and if it makes you happy, I'll think about it some more, okay? But now, if you don't mind, I might go-"

"-check on Remus," Hermione finished, grinning inwardly with satisfaction at the stunned look on Lily's face. She shrugged. "I saw him this morning. I figured that you'd go around to check on him."

Lily looked unsure of this excuse, but seeing no other possible explanation, she merely nodded and left the room with heavy footsteps. And then Hermione stood alone, smiling and congratulating herself on a job well done.

- x –

Hermione didn't see Lily for the rest of the day and assumed that girl was taking time to herself to ponder the earlier conversation. So instead of going out of her way to find her, Hermione spent her time bonding with the other two girls, Marlene and Alice. She found that despite Marlene's snarky remarks, the two were genuinely good friends.

"Marlene, why don't you just put the horse _here_?" Alice asked, her kind eyes squinted at the chessboard that held the intense game being played by Hermione and Marlene.

"It's called a _knight_, Alice. And I was going to, by the way, but I can't now that you've told Hermione my next move!" Marlene groaned. "Honestly! I could've won with that move!"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at their antics as she directed her pieces around the board and the game continued. It was odd, but in many ways they reminded her of Harry and Ron. And although it sometimes hurt to realise that there was the slight possibility that she may never see the two boys again, it was still welcome and served as a trigger to happy memories.

One game passed and before Hermione knew it, it was time for dinner. Marlene and Alice were more than happy to grab her arms and cheerfully skip her down the corridors and into the Great Hall, chanting children's rhymes at the top of their lungs.

"Stop it, stop it." Hermione gasped through laughter, untangling herself and plopping down on a Gryffindor table bench, not bothering to acknowledge the odd, mostly disapproving, looks that the three girls had received upon arrival.

"Oh, you love it!" Marlene said, grinning as she slid in beside her. "Besides, we can't do that sort of thing with Lily any more. Not appropriate for the Head Girl, apparently."

Alice frowned and added quietly, "There's that, and she reckons that given the state of things, these sorts of tunes aren't really… well, fitting."

"These sorts of tunes?"

"Happy ones," Marlene said bluntly. "Speaking of Lily, have you seen her? I haven't seen her since lunch, actually."

"She's probably doing homework in the library," Alice muttered. "Well, I hope she is. She promised she'd help with Defense tonight."

"Oh, well that'll be that then." Marlene looked unsurprised by this, and Hermione couldn't help but wonder if this was the sort of conversation that would've occurred when she was at Hogwarts and spent much of her free time surround by the many shelves of books. Interrupting her thoughts, Marlene smacked her lips loudly, rattling her cutlery against her place. "Well then! Let's eat!"

The conversation throughout the meal flew over Hermione's head, although she was sure that it was amusing enough. The only thing that she seemed to be able to focus on was the absence of Sirius Black. Typically, it wouldn't have bothered her, but with the other three Marauders laughing together on the other side of the table, the fourth not being there seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Just as she was about to ask of his whereabouts, James stood abruptly, patting a wincing Remus firmly on the shoulder.

"Oi, Dalkin! Sirius wanted me to pass on a message."

Hermione stiffened, well aware of the watchful gaze that Marlene and Alice had on her. "What does he want?"

"D'you know where the old Charms room is?" James asked her, smirking at her discomfort.

"N-"

"I can show her," Marlene interrupted, her eyes narrowing at the teenage boy who was hovering far too close to her for her liking.

"Thing is," James said smoothly, "I'm pretty sure that Sirius doesn't want to see you. So I'll be taking her, thank you."

It seemed that Hermione had no say in the matter and she found herself being dragged out of the hall by none other than James Potter. She wrenched her arm away quickly, knowing from previous experience that Sirius's grip was painful and she had little intention of finding out whether James was stronger than his best friend or not.

"I'm following you," she insisted when he turned around to glare. "What? I don't need you to hold my hand."

It was then that she came to the realisation that the two of them had passed where most of the classrooms in the school were. She recognised the area from her patrols in Fifth year. It was small, secluded area of the school with few paintings and other than a few cupboards and dusty classrooms, this corner of Hogwarts was empty. Hermione could only recall it being used once, and even that was only as a Prefect patrol station, which had been taken out of place fairly quickly.

"Where's Sirius?" Hermione asked hesitantly, sure that she wouldn't like the answer.

"I told him you wanted to meet him during dinner instead of after," James said flippantly. "Anyway, I'd like to have a chat with you."

There was an eerie silence as she requested, "We can talk here. I'd rather not walk any further away from the main corridors."

He must've decided that they were far enough away from the busy part of the school, for he stopped walking and lazily slouched against a pillar.

"So what it is that you and Sirius have been up to? And none of this tutoring business; I'm not an idiot."

"I'm new," Hermione insisted. "He's just helping me to understand the school rules and -"

"Didn't you just hear me tell you that I'm not an idiot?"

She bit her lip in anxiety. She had to come up with something - something believable. It was clear that anything to do with schoolwork was out of the question. _I could say he's helping me with Quidditch and that I'd like to trial_, Hermione thought_, but then, that's not going to work for when the trials come up and he realises that I'm terrified of flying_.

"Well then?" James stared at her, his patience thinning.

"Well, I..." Hermione racked her brain, wishing that something, anything, would save her. "We were... we were snogging!" The sentence had flown out of her mouth before she could stop it and she hoped that the horror she was feeling didn't reflect on her appearance.

He eyed up and down for several moments before saying simply: "You're lying."

"I'm not!"

"Well, say you aren't, although you are, why would you come up to my room, presumably in the middle of the night, to snog? Now I know Sirius isn't very classy, but we _do_ have rules about that."

"Why don't you ask Sirius if you don't believe me?"

"You're more likely to tell me." James gave a sudden groan, pressing the palms of his hands against his temples and then slowly rubbing them. "Come on, Dalkin. No lies. Just tell me what you've been up to with my best mate."

Hermione stepped back, the stonewall pressing against her back and causing her to shudder. "I've told you," she said shakily, holding onto her story with all her might. "It's not my problem if you don't believe me."

"And why should I believe you, when you're obviously lying? Explain to me last night and I might _think_ about believing you."

"Lily opened the letter," Hermione said quietly. What possessed her to say that, she wasn't sure, but it did have a visible affect on Potter. "The other day, when we were... you know, he asked me to talk to her about it. I came up to tell him that she'd opened it."

Well. It was almost the truth.

"You were there when she opened it?"

She took a moment before answering, "Yes."

"She would've told you whether she was going to meet me. That's what you came to tell Sirius."

Hermione was thankful for James filling in the gaps for her. It meant that she didn't have to come up with elaborate lies nor did she have to break the bad news to him. Instead, all she had to do was nod and make a mental note to tell Sirius every detail of the story that James was whipping up for her.

"She's not though, is she?" James asked. "She's not."

Feeling out of place for the second time that day, Hermione resorted to once more, staring at the ground. When she did manage to gather up her self-dignity and look up, she was astonished to see James smiling sadly at her.

"It's alright. I was never good enough for her anyway."

Desperate to console him in anyway whatsoever, she said, "I asked her to reconsider. She might change her mind."

James gave a throaty laugh. "Lily never changes her mind."

"There's a first time for everything."

"You know," James started, nodding slightly, "you don't seem half bad. I'd stay away from Sirius if I were you. It's the nice girls that always get hurt the most when it comes to him."

She smiled weakly. "I think I can take care of myself."

"Well, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on," James finished the sentence with an exaggerated wink and Hermione found herself laughing along with him as she peeled herself off the wall, making her way down the empty corridor as their laughs bounced back towards them from all directions.

Taking in his feigned grin and sad eyes, Hermione's laughter stopped with his. With that, she disappeared down the corridor. Lily had to reconsider. What's more, Lily had to meet him in the Astronomy Tower - she just had to.

* * *

Authors' Note: The wait, the wait, I _know_. Anyway, it's holidays now and even though Rachel's frolicking about in Europe, I (Kimberley) have actually already made head-way on the next chapter! Insane, I know. With a bit of luck, that'll be up within the next week. (:


	11. Chapter 11

Written by RGBTheDuckie and xakemii.

* * *

"No, Hermione," Lily said for what felt like the hundredth time. Flicking her fringe out of her eyes, she sighed. "I don't know why you're so intent on me meeting him, but I'm not going to."

"Because of Snape?" Hermione hissed back.

Although the two, along with Marlene, were alone in the common room, Hermione had the sneaking suspicion that two teenage boys were lurking on the steps that lead to the boys' dormitories. According to Sirius, Peter had been given the extremely important job of keeping James away from the common room. This meant that the pudgy boy was probably hanging upside on a broom on the Quidditch pitch. Truthfully, Hermione didn't feel sorry for him in the slightest.

"No! Because he's been nothing but a git to me from day one and I see no reason why a letter should change my mind about him!"

"But don't you think that—"

"No," Lily said, her voice strained. When Hermione looked up to face the girl, she was surprised to see dark lines rimming her eyes. "I really don't, Hermione."

"Don't tell me you _still_ carry a torch for that git!" Marlene exclaimed. "Especially after he—"

"No," Lily insisted. "I don't. Never did. But I don't fancy Potter either. Now could you two _please_ leave me alone? I need to get good marks for this essay, you know?"

"Good marks my arse." Marlene scoffed, but she stood and made to leave her friend in peace. She paused before leaving through the portrait exit. "Hermione, are you coming?"

Every fibre in her body willed herself to say yes, but it was the thought of the two boys that were surely waiting for her that made Hermione shake her head regretfully.

"No, I don't think so. I'll probably go to the library later though."

Marlene shrugged indifferently. "Suit yourself."

- **x** -

She'd been waiting twenty minutes before the two idiots decided to show themselves. When they did, Hermione couldn't help but gasp. Her eyes traveled up and down Remus's form and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying as she took in the new scars and bruising.

"Lily's not going to change her mind," Hermione said, desperate to keep the conversation away from Remus's_furry problem_. "I mean it, you two. There's no way. Your friend, Potter, will be alone tomorrow night, I'm afraid."

"You said you'd help."

"And I _tried_. But no force on this planet will get Lily Evans to date James Potter, I assure you."

"Do you want to be the one to tell him that?" Remus snapped. Hermione recoiled and he must've noticed for he sighed immediately afterwards, looking more strained than ever and offered a weak excuse: "Sorry. Bad sleep."

"He already knows. He cornered me last night and asked what I was doing hanging around with you, Black."

"You told him?" Sirius yelped. "Merlin, I knew he'd gotten to you, but couldn't you keep your damn mouth shut?"

"I didn't tell him! He guessed."

"No need to be so harsh, Sirius," Remus said quietly. Turning to Hermione he said, "What did James want?"

"Just... just wanted to know what I was doing with Black. I told him we were snogging, by the way."

"WHAT!"

Remus blinked several times. "And he actually believed you? Oh, Merlin. What an _idiot_."

"It's not that unbelievable." Hermione shrugged at Sirius's annoyed glare and said, "Your reputation proceeds you. What's more, Remus, is that I don't understand why _you_ can't be the one to try talk to Lily."

"I've tried. Believe me, I've tried."

She looked him up and down, finally taking in the teenager in front of her. Hermione had always thought that her old teacher had gotten along well with her, but there was no sign of the Remus she knew here. He seemed happier here - not so tainted. Nonetheless, he still sported the tired expression that only she'd only ever seen on Remus.

"How come you call him Remus?" Sirius asked suddenly, a crease forming between his eyes. "You'll have to call me Sirius if you've told James we're snogging, y'know."

"You'll have to call me Hermione."

"And you'll have to call them James and Peter. 'Cause apparently you don't have a problem with Remus." Sirius raised his eyebrows at his last statement, but somehow missed Hermione's face as she blanched at Peter's name.

"But we're not going through with the snogging idea, right?" Hermione asked, suddenly worried.

"Why not?" Remus muttered. "How else are we went to explain your..." he trailed off. "Your... unlikely... friendship?" He shot Hermione an amused look and then added, "Besides, she's already told him that, hasn't she?"

"I was under pressure!"

"You should've known better!"

"Sirius, _shut up_," Remus interrupted. "It's perfect. Think about it! We'll have it so that Hermione has come to her senses and realises that she could do better than Sirius—"

"Oi!"

"—and Sirius, being the arrogant twat that he is—"

"Oi!"

"—will continue to pursue her."

Sirius glowered at his friend. "Done now, yeah?"

"It _is_ a good idea..."

"And it's not up for discussion," Remus said firmly, looking rather pleased that Hermione, who'd shot down all his ideas in their last meeting, was agreeing with him. At Sirius's disgruntled look Remus continued, "It _is_ a good idea and it means that we won't have to stage some ridiculous kiss between you two for James's benefit."

"What would've been so bad about th—"

"_Sirius_."

Raising his hands in mock surrender, Sirius caved, although the smirk on his face didn't fall. "Alright. So Dal- Hermione is delusional and thinks that she could do better than me and I, being the chivalrous bloke that I am, attempt to open her eyes to the truth."

Hermione stifled a laugh and even though the expression on Remus's face was dead serious, she could see that he was fighting back a smile as he nodded at his friend.

"Yeah, Sirius. We'll go with that."

- **x** -

For Hermione, Sunday evening couldn't have come sooner. Naturally, she spent the majority of dinner trying in vain to convince Lily to go up to the Astronomy Tower. But her mind was set and even with Alice and Marlene's efforts combined, all Lily would do was shake her head.

"I know I said that you didn't have to," Marlene said, "but I really think you should give him a try. Come on, it's the least you could do."

"And as my friend, the least you could do is support me."

"He'll give up on you!" she exclaimed. "Is that what you want?"

Lily's response was even and calm. "If he truly loves me, he'll never give up."

"Oh, you have _got_ to kidding yourself. He's a prat, not an idiot."

But that was the end of that and Lily refused to comment further and when James Potter stood and left the Great Hall by himself after eating, Lily stayed seated - her eyes cast down as she pushed the food around on her plate mindlessly.

"Go," Marlene hissed. "It's now or never."

"Then it'll be never."

Her green eyes were narrow, but determined and Hermione watched the girl in dismay. She'd known that Lily was a stubborn girl, but this seemed really rather stupid. She hadn't taken Lily to be the sort of girl that was full of pride and arrogance and at the moment, those two traits were the only things that she could label Lily as.

Licking her lips, Hermione pushed her plate away from her. Offering a small explanation, she excused herself from the girls and followed in James's footsteps, not failing to acknowledge the curious pairs of eyes that followed her; the eyes that not only belonged to a paranoid Alice, but also those of the Marauders.

She followed the winding corridors and stairs until she reached the familiar tower. For a moment, she second-guessed herself, wondering if this was really what she ought to do.

_Don't be stupid, Hermione, you have to make sure they get together. If they don't, what'll become of Harry? Oh. That's right. He won't exist. So come on, get moving._

And so, although she was still reluctant, Hermione trailed up the steps quietly and entered the room in silence. James, having gotten there a fair few minutes before her, had already made himself comfortable and was sitting on the cold floor, his head hanging and fingers tracing unknown patterns on the concrete. However when Hermione closed the door behind her, he jumped in the air, turning to her with a wide smile on his face.

"Lily!"

"Sorry." Hermione felt bad as she watched James's face fall and she shuffled closer to him. "I'm sorry, James."

He gave a harsh laugh. "You don't care, not really."

"Not really," she echoed, dropping to the floor and crossing her legs as she sat next to him. "I know what it feels like though."

"You've chased a bloke for six years only to have him reject you in the end?"

She thought of Ron and the feelings she'd harbored for her friend for as long as she could remember. She thought of how they'd left it too late and by the time they'd finally finished dancing around each other, the passion was no longer there. It would be a lie to say she hadn't been hurt, but it would also be a lie to say that things hadn't turned for the best between them.

"Something like that."

"Only something like that, huh?"

"Yeah. It gets better, don't worry."

_What are you doing, Hermione? Aren't you meant to be convincing him that he just can't live without darling Lily Evans? You're not meant to be telling him that he can live without her!_

"She likes you though," she amended. "I reckon she does. Even Marlene says that she's needy for your attention."

"She probably is, although I believe that Sirius will tell you that it's me that's needy for _her_ attention and not the other way around."

"If you do love her—"

"I _do._" The vigor in his voice caused Hermione to jump. He continued though, his fists pounding against the floor angrily. "I'd _die_ for her. I love her. Why doesn't anyone see that?"

"It's difficult to believe," she said softly, "that someone could know love at such a young age."

"You don't believe me."

Smiling, she shook her head. "Really, I do. I think it's incredible."

"Incredible?" James scoffed. "The only thing _incredible_ about the whole situation is how many times she's hexed me."

"And yet you still continue to pursue her. That's incredible." The brunette turned to the boy next to her and almost laughed out loud at the shocked expression on his face. "It's a compliment, James. If I were you, I'd take it with a smile."

The laughter in her mind diminished quickly though and she said, "I suppose you'd rather Lily had said that to you."

"Ah, I don't think she'll talk to me for awhile."

"What? Don't be ridiculous! She turned you down for a date, she didn't ask you to leave her life," Hermione exclaimed. "Besides... being her friend wouldn't that bad. Wouldn't you rather be a friend than nothing at all?"

"It's funny, but when I declared my never-ending love for her to you, I didn't really expect a _just-a-friend _line back."

"James, I'm sor—"

The boy sent her a wicked grin. "I'm kidding, Dalkin. Just messing with you."

"James!" she shrieked, punching him lightly in the shoulder. At his wink, she laughed. "By the way, thank you for the advice about Sirius. I spoke to him this afternoon, although he didn't' seem all that pleased."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You denied him the chance to add you to his collection of notches on his bedpost. Did you expect him to take it well?"

"I did, actually. It's not as if we were emotionally attached in anyway. And the kiss... well, that was an accident of sorts."

"I suppose you just fell on his lips, yeah?"

"That had better be your second joke of the night otherwise I do promise you that I know some _very_ creative hexes."

Tapping her wand in a mock threatening manner, she winked as his booming laugh echoed around the room. It was strange for her; she never had made friends easily. But it was different. In many respects, it was just like talking to Harry. Only... Harry had never been quite so obsessive over Ginny, but still, the sense of familiarity was comforting.

"I'd rather keep my ba—"

"_Language_, James," she warned.

"Right. Right. Well, Lily's not coming and as stunning as you are, Dalkin, I might head off."

He stood, offering his hand to her when she stayed seated. "Well? Are you going to let me walk you to the common room or shall I leave to as fresh meat for the Slytherins?"

"Of course I'll walk with you. I was just thinking..." Hermione trailed off, second-guessing herself. "...maybe you could call me Hermione. I mean, I call you James. And we're in the same house. It makes sense, right?"

"Alright... Hermione."

- **x** -

By the time Hermione had made her way back to the tower with James's assistance the other girls were asleep, a fact she noted with much appreciation. Needless to say, she wasn't looking forward to the morning, when she was sure to bombarded with questions. Quietly, as to not wake the others, Hermione changed quickly and slipped under the covers, welcoming sleep.

Her awakening, however, was not nearly as sweet and Hermione found herself spluttering and gasping as she bolted upright, water dripping from her now limp hair.

"The other two have gone to breakfast," Alice told her, her wand tangling from her fingertips. "And we're going to miss it all together unless start moving."

Hermione groaned and made her way from her bed to her trunk, shaking off droplets of water.

"Was the water really necessary?" Hermione asked as she found her uniform and begin putting it on.

"Probably not. But you were dead to the world," Alice said. "I guess that's what happens when you go out gallivanting around the castle on a school night."

Hermione turned to the mirror as she tightened her tie. What was she going to tell them? Lily wouldn't be impressed if she admitted she had gone to see James. Perhaps she could spin them another story about snogging Sirius in a broom closet.

"You noticed then?" Hermione said, deciding it was best to simply stall for time.

"Ever vigilant I am," Alice joked. "But seriously where were you?"

"I went to find a quiet classroom to study in. I mean you know how loud the common room can get. I guess I just lost track of time." Hermione knew she would be lucky if Alice believed her. She held her breath, not daring to make eye contact. She walked over to pick up her wand where she had discarded it last night, trying to appear casual.

"You and I both know that isn't true," Alice said.

"Oh," Hermione said, pointing her wand at her hair to dry it. "Where do you suppose I was then Alice?"

"Well, you've been spending a lot of time with the Marauders lately. But Remus was tutoring Peter in the common room all night. And Lily said when she came back from the library that she saw Sirius charming books so they would chase after first year Slytherins."

Alice paused for a moment, looking sheepish. "But , that still leaves one Marauder. One that you were very keen on Lily meeting up with last night."

Hermione sighed. There really was no point denying it. Pulling her robes on over her uniform she sat down next to Alice on her bed.

"I felt bad for him," Hermione offered in way of an explanation. "You know he would have waited all night for Lily to come."

Alice nodded, knowing that love sick Potter would probably only just been wandering back to the common room if Hermione hadn't gone to see him.

"Do Marlene and Lily know?" Hermione asked. Alice may have been quite understanding, but she knew the other two would be slightly more judgmental.

"They don't know, I think they just assumed you were off with some boy. And in case you were wondering I wasn't planning on telling them."

Hermione let out a huge sigh of relief. Although she couldn't quite figure out why she had been so nervous to begin with. Explaining why she had been up late with James would have annoying. But it wasn't like she didn't have a valid reason. Despite this she smiled gratefully at Alice.

"Shall we go to breakfast then? I'm starving."

"Sure," Alice said, and followed Hermione out the door.

-** x **-

James appeared to be barely keeping his eyes open at breakfast as he sleepily picked at his food. The usually loud Marauders didn't even bother to try and cheer him up. They had already tried last night when he had come back to the dormitory, but James seemed defeated.

Remus glanced over to where Hermione was sitting, chatting lightly to Alice. As she looked up briefly he managed to catch her eye. He raised an eyebrow and gestured to the door. Hermione nodded and he watched as she quickly ate her last mouthful of porridge. He rose from the table making some excuse about going to the library, and followed Hermione from the Great Hall.

"I guess he told you then," Hermione said as Remus caught up to her just outside the Grand Hall. "I'm really sorry. I tried, but you know Lily. I couldn't convince her.

"It's okay," Remus said. He was looking better than yesterday, but the tiredness still showed on his face. The scratches were fainter, but still clearly visible to anyone who was looking.

"I can't imagine Sirius is as good tempered about the whole thing," Hermione said, trying not to think about Remus pain.

"He's not happy that's for sure. Not everyone can be as forgiving as me."

Hermione tried to laugh, but all she could manage was weak smile. She was too distracted by the rugged scar on his jaw line, so noticeable against his pale skin.

Remus noticed her unease and gently touched her on the shoulder. The gesture, although meant to be reassuring, made Hermione tense.

"Hermione," Remus said softly. "What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Hermione started, but trailed off. How could she possibly tell him what she was thinking? She wasn't supposed to know about Remus being a werewolf. "You've been looking a bit run down recently. Are you alright?"

Remus looked slightly taken aback, but nodded and smiled anyway. "I'm fine. Just a cold."

"Is it really just a cold?" Hermione asked, gesturing towards the bruises poking out beneath his rolled up sleeves.

Looking flustered, Remus pulled down his sleeves in attempt to hide his wounds.

"I fell over the other day," Remus tried to explain.

"You don't really expect me to believe that." Hermione said, cocking her head to the side. She tried to smile at him, encouraging him to tell her.

Remus realised it was useless to try and hide any longer. Hermione may have seemed suspicious to begin with, but he trusted her now. Was there any reason to hide it from her when she had already pieced together this much?

"You're smart girl, Hermione. I'm sure you can work it out." Remus folded his arms and looked down at Hermione. Almost challenging her.

"I'll tell you what I know," Hermione said. Her voice soft and slow. "A couple of nights ago when I snuck into your dormitory, no one was there. And when you came back in the morning you looked horrible. I also know that that night was a full moon."

There was a pause as Remus took in what she just said. He nodded, thinking to himself.

"So I guess we need to talk."

-** x **–

Sitting on top of a desk in an empty classroom, Hermione awkwardly wrung her hands. Remus had just finished telling her, and it was no more pleasant the second time he told her the story.

A couple of desks away Remus watched Hermione. It had been different when he had confessed to his friends. Back then he had been embarrassed and nervous. Now, he had accepted his illness. As he told Hermione about how he had been bitten and his struggle to get into Hogwarts, he could have sworn she looked close to tears. Something he didn't have to deal with when telling James, Sirius and Remus. Even afterwards, as she sat their silently, he didn't know what to say.

Just as Remus stepped closer to Hermione, ready to say something, Hermione broke the silence.

"I don't care that you're a werewolf, I don't see you any different. I mean it doesn't matter to me." Hermione blushed, feeling silly now. "I just wanted you to know that."

Remus grinned, feeling a weight lift off his chest. He wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." He squeezed her shoulder. "And now there is no more secrets between us."

Although she felt slightly sick, Hermione forced herself to look happy.

No more secrets.

Apart from the big one she was hiding.


End file.
